THIS WEEK: Uganda moves to issue digital passports

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Government Spokesperson Ofwono Opondo has revealed that come 2019, the country will start issuing e-pass ports, a move by the East African Community states to move from machine readable passports to digital versions.

While the old passport has been costing the country Shs150, 000, the new version will cost Shs250, 000.

“You don’t have to go get the new one immediately. The exercise will be continuous. The plan is to have the old type phased out by the end of 2021”, he said the transition was in line with a January 15, 2021 deadline set by the six East African countries to phase out the machine readable passports.

Tanzania started the phase out early this year when they started issuing the passports. For Uganda, according to Internal Affairs Ministry the first batch of the e-passports arrived last week and was set for pretesting.