Malawi govt ponders to hike passport fees -Minister

Minister of Home Affairs Jean Kalirani has not ruled out government hiking passport fees, saying the fall of the kwacha has negatively affected printing costs of the travel document.

Speaking in Blantyre on Monday after officially visiting Immigration offices, Kalirani said the government is holding talks with relevant parties to see how best to increase the passport fees.

“We have not come to a conclusive decision, we are still discussing. The depreciation of the kwacha has negatively affected the printing costs and operations of the department. The passport fees may indeed increase,” she said.

The issue of the increase surfaced on social media a few months ago when some people speculated the government wants to hike the fees by 40 percent, reports vehemently denied by Immigration officials.

Malawians on social media expressed concern that the government was  applying  such an increase when the economy was doing extremely bad.

Turning to the Immigration staff, Kalirani said she was concerned with reports of rampant corruption at the department despite government efforts to curb the vice.

Outgoing Chief Immigration Officer Masauko Medi said the department missed a set target of collection of revenue of K4.2 billion as it collected K3.8 billion.