The commissioner in charge of passport and citizenship under the internal affairs ministry, Brig. Johnson Namanya has called for the removal of agents from the passport office.

“Agents are spreading false information to citizens, with intention of extorting money from them, yet processing a passport costs sh250,000 and it is paid in the bank,” he said.

Speaking during the launch of the Gulu passport office in Gulu city recently, Namanya asked the Resident City Commissioner (RCC) and the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) to remove agents that have been extorting money, ranging from sh700,000 to sh1m, from people who go to process their passports.

He said because of limited internet access and lack of information, people have been going to Kampala to process their passports.

“Decentralisation of services is at the centre of what we do, and we are easing the pain of having this document processed and picked in Kampala,” he said.

Namanya said Gulu has the third regional passport office after Mbarara and Mbale.

Next year, they will open other branches in Arua and Jinja Charles Coward Okello, the assistant commissioner passports, said there is a need to sensitise the community and disseminate the information so that people can apply and get their passports from Gulu.

Maj. Gen.  Kasita Gowa, the director of the citizenship and immigration control at the internal affairs ministry, said the new office will make the processes easier and cost-effective.

He has asked the business community to take advantage of the new developments and open more commercial entities, like hotels, entertainment, and cultural centres, among others Martin Wetaya, the principal immigration officer in charge of northern Uganda, thanked the former chairperson of Gulu, Martin Ojara Mapenduzi and former RDC, Maj. Santos Okot Lapolo, for donating land for building the office.

He said all services, including Uganda Security Printing Company Limited, legal and extension services, are available.

Betty Aol Ocan, the Woman MP for Gulu City, said when she was processing her passport in the early 1990s, there were many agents who asked for money to help her.