The ministry of Internal Affairs is set to open a new passport issuance facility in Kampala to reduce the long queues at the ministry headquarters.
According to the Director for Citizenship and Immigration Control at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General Apollo Gowa, the new facility will be open and operational within a week.
Maj Gen Gowa made this revelation while appearing on the SpotlightUG show on NBS Television, Monday evening.
"We are looking at opening another center in Kampala to decongest the Ministry of Internal Affairs offices. It is painful to see Ugandans lining up," Maj Gen Gowa said.
Gowa said that they are also considering to use some Posta Uganda Infrastructure to increase their capacity of issuing out passports.
Long queues of desperate and frustrated faces of Ugandans seeking to obtain their passports have for months been a matter national concern.
Last month, Ministry of Internal Affairs Permanent Secretary Dr. Benon Mutambi said that they were overwhelmed by passport applicants and that their systems were 'overflowing'.
Mutambi said that they now print over 2000 passports daily, with the number of applicants increasing every day which had stretched them beyond their limits.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs puts the increase in demand for passports to the COVID-19 situation that left many job less, and therefore looking for means of survival abroad.