Govt makes Shs800m daily from immigration offices
People are seen gathered at new passport office in Jinja City after it was opened on February 23, 2024 to serve Busoga sub-region and Eastern Uganda. PHOTO/RASHUL ADIDI
The immigration department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs is raking in at least Shs800million daily from all its four regional offices and Kampala-based headquarters, an official has said.
Last Friday, the directorate of citizenship and immigration control opened a new passport office in Jinja City, which will serve Busoga sub-region and the Eastern part of the country, becoming the fourth regional office after Gulu, Mbale and Mbarara.
The new regional office will be responsible for, among other immigration services, issuing new e-passports, personalisation and issuance of permits and passes; issuance, renewals and extension of visas, inspection and legal services under the decentralisation programme.
Ministry of Internal Affairs Spokesperson Simon Mundeyi says the aforementioned services will end the bureaucracy caused by going to Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), LC1 and LC2 chairpersons.
“Currently, in a day we raise Shs800m in revenue that goes to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA); and because of the e-system, we no longer have cases of duplicate passports,” Mundeyi noted.
He further explained that the newly-opened Jinja service centre has capacity to issue 3,000 passports per day, adding that due to the e-system of passport application and the ease in accessing services, their revenue and the number of those seeking passports has also increased.
Data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs indicates that so far, over one million e-passports have been issued since they were unveiled in December 2018.
The director immigration and citizenship control, Maj Gen Apollo Kasiita-Gowa, said the decentralisation programme is aimed at decongesting the Kampala office and bringing services nearer to the people.
“The first one we did was in Mbarara, second in Mbale, then Gulu and now Jinja. Soon, after this, we shall be opening the one in Arua to allow people to go to other regional centers for the services,” he emphasized.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lt Gen Joseph Musanyufu, urged locals to seize the opportunity and access immigration services, rather than travel to Kampala and “cause congestion.”
The regional manager, Jacob Siminyu, says they have so far issued 600 passports since the (Jinja) centre inception, and warned the general public against using middlemen to get passports.
“We don’t expect you (applicants) to be corrupt enough to look for someone to help you, and if we see anyone at our office trying to extort, we shall deal with them using the available instruments,” he warned.
About nine Jinja City residents who spoke to Monitor anonymously expressed excitement, saying “the development will reduce other associated costs and time.”
