Siminyu says that the Immigrations directorate kept more than 3000 passports of returnees but half of them claimed their travel documents whereas the other half hasn’t bothered. The Immigrations directorate said it has tried to contact the owners to pick their passports in vain.
The Immigrations
Directorate in the Internal Affairs Ministry is stuck with 1504 passports of
people who were quarantined during the Covid-19 lockdown. Jacob Siminyu, the Internal
Affairs Ministry Spokesperson, says the passports were confiscated during
lockdown since it was one of the ways to keep track of people returning to the country.
Siminyu says
that the Immigrations directorate kept more than 3000 passports of returnees
but half of them claimed their travel documents whereas the other half hasn’t bothered.
The Immigrations directorate said it has tried to contact the owners to pick
their passports in vain.
“Most of these passports are still valid and are
electronic. We ask people to come and pick their passports because getting
another one is not an easy task. You will need a police letter, an affidavit
from the commissioner of oaths and a fine of not less than Shillings 100000,”
Siminyu said.
As Covid19 cases soared across the globe, the World Health Organization –WHO
advised countries to imposed a lockdown as one of the ways to curtail the
spread of the pandemic. Uganda went into lockdown on March 18. All those
that returned before the government lifted the lockdown were subjected to
mandatory quarantine for 14 days.
However, a number of people especially those
that found the conditions in quarantine centers intolerable escaped despite the
presence of both uniformed and ununiformed police and military personnel. Siminyu could not verify whether the 1504 passports belong to people who escaped
from quarantine centers.
According to Siminyu, they will keep reminding owners
of the passports to pick them. In a related development, the Internal Affairs
Ministry has announced plans to use security personnel to chase people
congesting their headquarters along Old Port bell road.
“There is no
the reason, why you should come at 7, am when your appointment is at 3 pm. We are
warning Labour export companies to stop bringing people very early in the
morning. You cannot keep someone standing for more than 5 hours,” Siminyu said.
A number of
women told URN that they had been dumped at the offices by a taxi hired by
their Labour exporting agency as early as 8 am. Some said they had arrived at
the ministry at 5 am from Namayingo, Jinja and Mayuge districts.
Mr Joseph Kato graduated with a Master's Degree of Art in Journalism & Communication on February 02, 2024 at Makerere University. He holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Journalism and Media Studies which he attained in 2023 at Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway.
Mr Kato holds a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication from Kampala International University. The Master's Degree studies and a decade of journalism practice have enabled Mr Kato to be one of the reliable researchers in areas of conflict, r
