Malawi February 2006 |
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| Malawians have hand in passport fraud , (Malawi Nation, 2006-02-06):-The Immigration Department has decried the tendency by some Malawians to assist foreigners obtain the local passport fraudulently. Immigration Department Repatriation Officer McBobby Balaza said in an interview on Thursday that it was unfortunate that some of the illegal immigrants are backed by chiefs and some District Commissioners (DCs). The DCs and chiefs involved, according to Balaza, falsely prove that the applicants are Malawian national. He said in January this year his Department arrested two Malawians for colluding with foreigners to acquire local passports. “Four Zimbabweans, a Nigerian, a Ghanaian and one from the DRC were last month either deported or are serving court sentences. “We ask the public to assist us in filtering out these illegal asylum seekers as some can be dangerous to the country’s security,” he said. Balaza also said the Department has established a new system which entails strict scrutiny of passport applicants. He said under the new system, many foreigners have been arrested. For example, he said, last year 869 illegal passport applicants were deported while 66 passport fraud-related cases were prosecuted and the suspects either paid a fine or are serving jail sentences. Recently, Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Anna Kachikho warned Malawians and Immigration officers against colluding with illegal immigrants in acquiring Malawian passports. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |