The Department of Immigration has been locked out of its passport printing system after reportedly attempting to print passports while the licence for the system had expired.
According to reports, the licence for the passport issuing system expired and the department attempted to bypass the system and continue printing passports without buying a new licence.
This resulted in the shutdown of the system last month.
On 25 January, the department released a statement claiming that a technical fault had led to the shutdown.
“We are informing Malawians that our passport printing machine has developed a technical problem and we are currently not issuing passports, but our technicians are working on it and we will let you know,” the statement said.
However, the department is still struggling to restore the system.
Other reports indicate that unauthorized elements have also hacked into the system and are controlling it.
A local information and communications technology expert was engaged to assist with the restoration but to no avail.
The system is managed by the Immigration department’s ICT consultants Techno Brain Limited and Immigration’s ICT section.
Immigration Department director general Charles Kalumo has not commented on the system failure.
The Department also faced passport production troubles between 2021 and 2023 after government cancelled a $60 million passport booklet supply contract with Techno Brain.
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