Prioritise health over EA e-passport

Over the past few days, family and friends have contacted me and expressed concern over the fast-approaching deadline for the transition to the East African Community (EAC) machine-readable or e-passports.

Whereas the intents of transitioning to the e-passport may support the regional integration efforts, the timing and lack of evidence to support the enforcement of the deadline are counterintuitive.

It is common knowledge that with the advent of Covid-19, many East Africans, especially Ugandans, were, and are still locked down where the pandemic found them. Those who braved the circumstances and returned home are probably yet to recover from the exorbitant travel and self-quarantine-related expenses.

Additionally, considering that many people lost their jobs and have not earned a penny since March, both those at home and abroad are financially constrained to acquire the e-passports.

Reliable sources indicate that at $67, Ugandans are paying the highest amount for the e-passports followed by Tanzanians at $65 and Kenyans at $45.5. Considering that these passports are not free of charge, what are the motives behind the deadline warning bells? Is someone trying to compel people to either pay now or brace themselves for the pending fines that will arise from failure to beat the deadline?

According to information available on the Ugandan Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control webpage, the third step in acquiring the new e-passports requires scheduling an appointment after completing the payments. This implies that the process is not completely virtual and involves human interaction.

How does this support the ongoing Covid-19 preventions efforts? How inclusive is this exercise for Ugandans and other East Africans, who can hardly complete the processes because they lack access to the Internet or live in places that are still under total lockdown?

Worse still, prior to embarking on the application process, an applicant has to first consent to several provisions contained in the disclaimer form that almost absolves the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control from any liabilities in case of any eventualities during the process.

For example, the Directorate is not responsible for expenses, delays, loss or damages of the application forms, passports, and other documents! Besides, application fees are non-refundable incase you make any error in the process! This made me curious as to whether there is a virtual support centre where those intending to apply for e-passports can seek help and minimise the potential errors that may result into financial loss?

Advancing fast-tracking of the East African integration process as the basis for East Africans to embrace the new e-passports maybe plausible, but the timing makes the reminders counterproductive. How will the vision of “a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united East Africa” be accomplished when citizens are subjected under undue pressure to acquire the e-passports regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic?

And if one were to ask, what evidence is there to support the hypothesis that fast-tracking the transition to the e-passport is the surest way to achieve the mission of the EAC?

Does “widening and deepening economic, political, social and cultural integration to improve the quality of life of the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments” depend on e-passports?

The regional integration process can only be facilitated by healthy citizens. Therefore, it is prudent to prioritise their health over the e-passport deadlines!

Mr Walugembe is a health information scientist, [email protected]