Throughout Malawi, there are only four centers namely Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mangochi and Mzuzu, where citizens apply for and obtain their passports from.
According to disclosure made by the President during his State-of-the-nation address delivered on Friday last week Government will further decentralize passport services to Salima, Kasungu, Chikwawa and Mzimba districts.
The decentralization, according to the Malawi leader, is calculated “to bring the service closer to the general public” that had been accessing the services from the distant cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
The decentralization to the district service centers, which is also expected to decongest the current centers, is expected to roll out in the immediate new fiscal year.
Apart from the decentralization process, government is also set to upgrade passport issuance system and integrate it with the National Registration Bureau.
Further upgrades to the passport services will include refurbishment of the passport offices in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Mangochi as well as installation of a passport laboratory at Kamuzu and Chileka International Airports.
The SONA further discloses that visa application systems will also be streamlined in order to make it easier for people to travel to Malawi.
