Internal affairs seeks funds to solve passport scarcity

The ministry of internal Affairs is constrained with a debt of sh8.7b that they owe the passport printing company De La Rue based in the United Kingdom.

Last week, the ministry announced that it had limited stock for ordinary passports but they had ordered for about 100,000 passports which are expected within two weeks.

Internal affairs minister, Rose Akol said although they generate a lot of money every financial year, they have been allocated only sh7b to the directorate of citizenship and immigration which has limited the implementation of some of the projects.

"Passports are one of those areas where we generate a lot of non-tax revenue for the government. We are going to bring this to the attention of finance.

We urgently need a supplementary budget enough to handle the required amount of passports and also to pay maintenance fees because De La Rue also maintains the passport issuance systems. Sh8.7b is owed by De La Rue and we have to pay those arrears" Akol said.

Akol added that the ministry of finance should consider giving them more funds to be in position to buy over 200,000 passport booklets as well as clear the debt.