The Immigration Department in Malawi says the passport issuance system which went down in January has been restored and passport printing will resume in Lilongwe this week.
Government has since reduced charges for the ordinary e-passport with 10-day waiting period from K90,000 to K50,000.
This is according to a statement released by the Immigration Department today.
The statement signed by the department’s director general Charles Kalumo says passport will resume gradually this week starting and later on in the region.
“We would like to thank all concerned Malawians for their patience during the time the e-passport issuance system was being fixed by a team of local experts from various entities who worked around the clock to complete the task within the timeframe by His Excellency the president,” says Kalumo.
The Department of Immigration announced in January that it was facing technical glitches which had affected passport printing.
Last month, weeks after passport printing had stopped, President Lazarus Chakwera told parliament on Wednesday that a cyberattack had led to the shutdown of the system.
However, activist Sylvester Namiwa questioned the president’s version, saying the shutdown was due to government’s reluctance to pay licence fee for the system.
