The immigration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has said it is still stuck with over 10,000 passports which remain uncollected by owners.

Addressing journalists on Monday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson, Simon Mundeyi said whereas many Ugandans apply for passports, many don’t pick them, leading to a pile at the passport office.

“We have over 10,000 passports which are lying out in Kyambogo passport collection centre pending collection,” Mundeyi said.

The ministry spokesperson explained that having suffered with long queues for long, they decided to increase on the number work stations and the number of staff to serve Ugandans and handle the many passport applications.

He noted consequently, the problem of long queues has since been dealt with but a new problem has been born where a number of passports remain unclaimed.

According to Mundeyi, whereas they send text messages as a reminder to owners to claim their passports, many have failed to pick the travel documents leading to a pile at their passport office at Kyambogo.

“I want to ask Ugandans who suffered looking for money, applied, paid and scheduled appointment to come and pick their passports. We have made efforts to resend messages to them to ensure they come and pick them, relieve us and create space but many remain piled up at our office. We have nowhere to keep passports because they are so many.”