Immigration nabs 10 monthly over fraud
Feb 13, 2010
AT least 10 people are arrested every month at the immigration department for issuing forged documents and giving false information in order to attain passports.
By Jimmy Muwanika
AT least 10 people are arrested every month at the immigration department for issuing forged documents and giving false information in order to attain passports.
Assistant commissioner and passport control officer Wilberforce Ngonde said in an interview: “The problem has persisted for some years and we are trying to find measures to solve the matter.â€
Consequently, the department has asked the Government to consider registering and issuing national identity cards in a bid to build a national data base.
Ngonde says the department believes that this is the only way of eliminating imposters and non citizens from accessing and acquiring Ugandan passports.
Currently, most of the department’s work is done manually which, according to Ngonde, makes it hard to analyse and verify whether the information presented to them by applicants is genuine.
“People can look alike, which makes it difficult to differentiate between them. A computerized database would just produce their particulars and detailed information about them would be received without a hassle,†he stated.
He added that the introduction of national identity cards would also help in shortening the process of getting a passport.
Presently, processing a passport takes a minimum of 10 working days and Ngonde attributes this to the long processes involved.
Ngonde urged the public to desist from using third parties to process passports, saying people had lost a lot of money that way to conmen.
Ngonde also called upon local council chairpersons and resident district commissioners to do proper scrutiny of people and their papers before they endorse them.
AT least 10 people are arrested every month at the immigration department for issuing forged documents and giving false information in order to attain passports.
Assistant commissioner and passport control officer Wilberforce Ngonde said in an interview: “The problem has persisted for some years and we are trying to find measures to solve the matter.â€
Consequently, the department has asked the Government to consider registering and issuing national identity cards in a bid to build a national data base.
Ngonde says the department believes that this is the only way of eliminating imposters and non citizens from accessing and acquiring Ugandan passports.
Currently, most of the department’s work is done manually which, according to Ngonde, makes it hard to analyse and verify whether the information presented to them by applicants is genuine.
“People can look alike, which makes it difficult to differentiate between them. A computerized database would just produce their particulars and detailed information about them would be received without a hassle,†he stated.
He added that the introduction of national identity cards would also help in shortening the process of getting a passport.
Presently, processing a passport takes a minimum of 10 working days and Ngonde attributes this to the long processes involved.
Ngonde urged the public to desist from using third parties to process passports, saying people had lost a lot of money that way to conmen.
Ngonde also called upon local council chairpersons and resident district commissioners to do proper scrutiny of people and their papers before they endorse them.