Immigration: Foreigners using Ugandan parents to get passports

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Foreign nationals are hiring Ugandan parents to ease their application for Ugandan passports, according to the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) has said

Simon Peter Mundeyi, the spokesperson for Ministry of Internal Affairs says that Ugandans are paid as low as Sh 2 million Shillings to sign off papers for anyone wishing to hold a Ugandan passport.

Mundeyi said that several of these applicants have been arrested with National Identify Cards attempting to beat the system. Many, according to him, often claim to be Baganda, Basoga or Bagisu but hardly speak any word in the dialects from the regions.

The directorate said that the failure to express themselves in the “mother tongue” has been one of the red flags for which they would be arrested. Upon interrogation  they would confess to have fraudulently acquired the National IDs.

“We have become tough on false identification, and foreigners have resorted to hiring parents thinking it would help them get passports. They come in groups and this is now one anothee red flag. We interview one by one and we easily notice that these people are unrelated,” Mundeyi said.

So far, Mundeyi said some of the foreigners and their hired parents have been arrested and are currently detained at Jinja Road Police Station. Some of the foreigners who have been arrested are from Nigeria, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan and Eritrea.

“We warn Ugandans not to be enticed with money to accept to be parents for people they do not know where they come from. We shall arrest you, prosecute and you’ll suffer in jail,” Mundeyi warned.

“We have also arrested 24 foreigners who came with Ugandan National IDs thinking they would acquire our passports. They forget that we have deployed people from all tribes and once you claim to be of a certain tribe, we get a person to interview you. We shall know that you’re lying,” Mundeyi said.

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