Minister Otafiire attributes the passport crisis on the Russia-Ukraine war

Many Ugandans are having difficulties in getting new passports at the moment with many told to wait for an indefinite period.

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The Minister of Internal Affairs Gen Kahinda Otafiire came out and apologized to all the affected individuals giving them hope that the situation will soon return to normal attributing the crisis to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine that has seen a drop in the number of passport booklets processed per day, from about 2,000 to 1,500 or less.

Mr Simon Peter Mundeyi, the spokesperson of Internal Affairs ministry also came out and said that the contractors were having difficulties in importing the materials for making the passport booklets which come from Russia.

“Ukraine-Russia conflict changed the world including Uganda, the company we contracted to be supplying passport booklets was getting materials from Russia. Importation of the printing materials to do passport covers cannot proceed,” said Mr Mundeyi.

Gen Otafiire said that MUganda is not the only country experiencing such a challenge but also Canada, United Kingdom, Kenya and other countries with Kenya applicants taking three months to get their passport.

“We are giving passports to priorities, people with emergencies, travels, jobs abroad and people with studies, but we have received good information from the contractors that they have found a way of getting passport materials and they will resume to full capacity in four, five weeks’ time,” he said.