By The Directorate of Immigration and Passport Control has destroyed 158,000 passports, valued at approximately Shs40 billion, citing limited storage space as the primary reason for their disposal. Officials say the backlog of uncollected passports had overwhelmed their storage facilities, leaving them with no option but to get rid of them.
Speaking to the media, Simon Mundeyi, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, confirmed that an additional 72,580 passports are also earmarked for destruction in the coming months if their owners do not claim them. He explained that a significant portion of these documents were issued to individuals who either abandoned them or failed to travel.
Mundeyi further revealed that among the unclaimed passports, 60,000 were returned by labor export companies that had initially processed them for Ugandan workers seeking employment abroad (kyeyo). However, these companies later failed to send the workers overseas, leading to thousands of passports being sent back to the immigration offices. He emphasized that the owners of these passports have been given a six-month grace period to collect them before they are also destroyed.
The immigration office has been grappling with challenges related to uncollected passports, which has caused congestion in their storage facilities. Many individuals apply for passports but never retrieve them, often due to changes in travel plans, rejection of travel visas, failure by labor export companies to secure work placements abroad, or financial constraints preventing them from completing travel arrangements. This growing issue has forced the immigration authorities to frequently destroy unclaimed passports to manage the overwhelming numbers.
As part of efforts to curb further wastage, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is urging all individuals who have applied for and been issued passports to ensure they collect them promptly. Mundeyi emphasized that passports are essential and expensive documents, and failure to collect them means applicants will have to restart the application process and incur additional costs. He warned that continued negligence would result in more passports being disposed of, further straining government resources.
The large-scale destruction of passports has raised concerns about wastage of public funds and inefficiencies in Uganda’s passport issuance and collection system. Observers have called for the government to adopt more effective notification systems to alert applicants about their unclaimed passports. There are also growing demands for stricter policies to hold labor export firms accountable for the bulk return of passports, which has significantly contributed to the problem.
As authorities work to address these challenges, Ugandans are being reminded to follow up on their passport applications and collect their documents on time to avoid unnecessary losses and inconvenience.
