…new supplier delays deliberate
…E Tech passports useless
Why can’t the passport problems be fixed? The answer is corruption! This has become the modus operand of the Malawi Government under President Lazarus Chakwera where corruption and impunity reign that ordinally Malawians seeking to find better life elsewhere amid the worsening economic conditions in Malawi are now paying dearly for it.
Dozens of Malawians travelling to South Africa are being returned at Beit Bridge entry border into South Africa, as the passports being supplied by E-Tech can’t be scanned a problem Immigration officials charge is due to poor printing facilities the company is using.
President Chakwera lied to Malawians in February 2024 that hackers had penetrated the system, and his Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma spiced it up with a K2 billion ransom demand. They were hiding their amateur and chaotic shortcuts into Techno Bain system that led to the collapse of a properly functioning system.
A six-month contract given to a local E Tech company has been riddled with poor quality passports so that even the First Lady Monica Chakwera’s passport was affected as she travelled to Geneva for official meetings. Despite the obvious capacity challenges, no movement is being made to identify a proper and quality supplier.
The Investigator Magazine has seen the list of six companies that submitted bids and among them Semlex, a Belgian company which has been reported as a fraud and money laundering firm appears to have been invited
Procurement of a new passport company was concluded, but like many other procurements under this administration, the decision to award contract to a successful bidder is taking ages- as senior government officials from the Office of the President and Cabinet and State House want specific companies considered.
The Investigator Magazine has seen the list of the companies and has been informed how far the process is being conducted by Immigration and Homeland Security officials but the decision to award contract is being dragged for no reason.
Six bidders with colourful histories
The Investigator Magazine has seen the six bidders who are looking forward to providing the new passport and among them include E- Tech which is said to be linked to senior MCP and State House officials.
It is not known yet if E-Tech passed the technical evaluation, but it would be surprising if it made it to the final list which is said to have been sent to the authorities a fortnight ago with the names of two companies.
The second Malawian owned firm is Sparc Systems which has built its reputation in banking technology but has struggled to get large public service contracts evidenced by the Reserve Bank of Malawi contracts which created a litany of excuses to avoid awarding it. The company, due to politics, is unlikely to be considered, our inside sources claim.
Electronics Hub with a Malawian national as contact is the third company on the list we have seen and very little is known about this firm and could be among those that are short listed or removed on technical proposals.
The three international companies on the list are Nitel whose contact is Malawian, and the bid was submitted by a Ivor Otomani which could not be readily identified, and the other is an Indian based Madras Security Printers whose contact is based in India.
The last one is the Belgian firm Semlex Group whose bid contact has a local number and Belgium number with the name listed as Luci Hullebroeck.
Semlex bid in Malawi is being linked to OPC and State House officials despite being labelled as a money laundering firm and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Government cancelling its 2015 contract and investigating the firm.
The firm was charging US$185 for the DR Congo passports, making it one of the most expensive passports in the world.
Semlex pays off government officials using offshore companies- report by Reuters
The current administration of President Chakwera has been known to come up with fake companies to syphon fuel, fertiliser and other public contracts that Semlex report in DR Congo exposes the same pattern than have become too common under the MCP regime.
Semlex in Congo according to Reuters News Agency was charging US$185 per passport and the Congolese Government was only receiving US$65 for each passport copy while US$125 was shared by the company and another firm registered in Dubai called LRPS.
Belgian authorities launched an investigation after the 2017 Reuters report which detailed the corrupt contract which saw a relative of then DR Congo President Joseph Kabila win a being named as the owner of the LRPS.
“LRPS is owned by Makkie Makolo Wangoi who is believed to be a close relative of Kabila,” said the report saying she had travelled to Dubai in June 2015 to complete transfer of the company name to herself.
A German company Damelong was given the passport contract replacing Semlex in 2020 which said that the claims of fraud were due to “jealousy” of its expansion in Africa as it provided passports in different African countries.
The initial prices for passports were around Euro 30 per passport but might have been increased by corrupt agencies who wanted to collect “political tithe” for the 70 million strong population.
Malawians continue to pay for impunity
With Semlex, Nitel and Madras Security as companies with real capacity to deliver better services, the delay to sort out the contracts award is being said to allow the highly favoured E Tech to continue the contract and find loopholes that will see it gain the actual contract.
“If you see Semlex or E Tech, it is likely something has happened. The two firms that seem to be in the clear could face political landmines hence the deal will delay until whoever has power is able to get their company,” said a source at Immigration.
The Immigration department could not confirm reports that passports were being printed all over, including private companies with good printers, as it has become desperate to show that the system has been restored.
“The hacker’s story was a lie, they cannot appoint a new Director General because everyone wants his candidate and then there is passports contracts, while Malawians see it as essential, the political powers see it as a money-making venture. Impunity is costing everyone who wants to travel,” said an observer.
