By Pemphero Musowa

Malawi’s Leader of Opposition (LoP), George Chaponda, has asked the government to take an immediate action to resolve the passport crisis in the country.

On Thursday, angry passport applicants pelted stones, blocked roads to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services offices in Lilongwe dissatisfied with slow passport issuance and allegations of widespread corruption.

Chaponda, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) vice president for the south, expressed concern about property loss saying violence was not the solution.

He blamed President Chakwera’s administration for failing to solve the situation:

“The current passport crisis is a man-made disaster, caused by the incompetence and negligence of the current leadership.

“It is appalling that no one at the Department of Immigration has been held accountable, despite obvious evidence that the current situation necessitates bold leadership. Nobody has been dismissed, no one has accepted responsibility, and no meaningful steps have been taken to address the matter.

“This lack of accountability and leadership demonstrates the government’s incompetence to handle the operations of the state.

“Instead of accepting responsibility and finding solutions, they are preoccupied with political maneuvering and self-preservation,” Chaponda stated.

On Friday, the department condenmed the riots and indicating it has launched an inquiry to track and apprehend the perpetrators of the riots.

“The Department has responded swiftly to the demand surge for passport services, by among others, resuming the provision of passport services in Blantyre, developing a clear roadmap of resuming provision of passport services in Mzuzu and Mangochi, and deploying systematic approaches of clearing all the outstanding passport backlog.”

The country has been dealing with passport troubles since 2021.

The issues range from scarcity of passport books, a backlog of applications, systematic corruption and cyber attack.