South Sudan halts issuing passports after production system shutdown
November 23, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan Friday has stopped issuing and renewing passports and other travelling documents after production system shutdown, sparking public outcry.
In place for more than three weeks, the government resorts to issuing travel permits as it is unable to process issue and renew passports, citing technical matters with production machine.
The Director-General for immigration, Lieutenant Majak Akec told Sudan Tribune on Friday that the department was experiencing technical issue, expressing hope it would be resolved soon.
“It is true we are not issuing new passports. We are also not renewing for those holding passports whose duration has passed, expired. The production machine is down. It is a technical matter on which our team is working to rectify,” said Gen. Majak.
“We hope this situation to be resolved soon. the team is working hard, around the clock to ensure it is fixed. when is resolved, we will resume operation normally,” said Akec.
A notice put out for public consumption at the headquarters of the passports and immigration office in Juba says the team is working to solve the problem and will make notification once resolved.
“Our technical team is working to solve the problem and will notify next week. Sorry for inconveniences, a notice seen by the Sudan Tribune on Friday reads.
While the overall head of the immigration department attribute the cause of non-operation to technical matters which he did not explain, officials at the department and at the ministry of finance linked the cause to a deliberate decision by a German company running system demanding payment which has not been settled by the government for more than a year.
However, an immigration officer told Sudan Tribune that the server had been switched off by the company more than two weeks ago after the government had failed to pay, despite promises.
Also, another official told Reuters that South Sudan’s passports and national identification server has been blocked by its host, the German company Muhlbauer, after the government failed to pay an annual software license fee of around $500,000.
(ST)