The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | About 200,000 Ugandans have renewed and upgraded to electronic passports, a year since the introduction of the new passport.
The process which started in January 2019, was undertaken to comply with guidelines set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The passport is embedded with a secure electronic chip containing details about the holder and a biodata page with special security features.
But the Commissioner for Citizenship and Passport Control, Johnson Namanya says that the uptake of the e-passport is still slow. According to Namanya, about a quarter of the estimated number of Ugandans with passports has migrated from the National Machine-readable passports to the e-passport.
The new passport is expected to ease clearance at the entry and exit points and facilitate the use of e-gates for self-clearance, automated issuance of Boarding Passes, and quicker processing at airports across the world. It is issued at a cost of 250,000 Shillings for the Ordinary e-Passport category.
Namanya says they have been able to issue more passports to first-time applicants many of who are processing paperwork to travel to the middle east, a new hub of employment for Ugandans. He says that they have issued more than 1,000 passports every day for the last three days, for people seeking jobs abroad. Majority of the applicants are females, aged between 15 and 35.
Namanya urges all passport holders to utilize the remaining months to upgrade their passports and avoid the last-minute rush
Uganda is now part of the family of over 150 countries that now issue and travel with e-passport documents.
*******
URN
