Immigration: Where money talks to unlock services

Most public institutions in the country have become places to visit with grace to find more grace and satisfactory service. They are also places where corruption can easily be practised given the long chain of command where the top management go through a long, winding road to dig out the truth about junior officers.

This is exactly what happens at the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passports, and Immigration (DCRNPI), especially when you want to be issued a nationality certificate or passport.

The place looks organised, with noticeable success in procuring passport booklets as well as buying a lot of logistical materials for staff, but there is rot inside, covered up by the outward industriousness of the administration.

The directorate is equipped with a handful of fraudulent junior police officers, normally found wearing police uniforms or in plain clothes. These officers are too sceptical about money. They will not hesitate to ask for money to follow up the entire process of obtaining the document. They normally promise to deliver your document within two days or a week, depending on the agreement.

You first have to pay about SSP 500 for the form, then they fill it out. After this, they will immediately ask you for the money so that it can be paid to the cashier to ‘‘unlock the process’’. At this stage, they will ask for any amount ranging from SSP 10,000 to SSP 50,000 based on how urgently you want the passport.

Your appearance sometimes makes them dictate the amount you should pay.

The file will later be returned with a receipt bearing SSP2, 500, and the rest of the money not counted.

They appear honest enough by saying that they will have to bribe officers working in every office where the application will be accepted so that you can get your passport or nationality certificate. In this way, they have convinced a number of people to pay a huge sum of money but, later in the process, return the application to the applicant. Then the applicant has to contract another person who works in the production section, to finalise the entire process.

They normally call it “bypassed” meaning you will not be required to submit any passport size photos.  

Not only is this, but also, the entire process is blanketed by the knowledge of whom you know, which the underlying system has hammered into the minds of the citizens.

Most of the officers make connections outside the office, and then in the morning, the applicants who meet their demands will not have to queue up.  Whoever passes through the entire process has a story to tell about his or her experiences of being stranded at the directorate while they were processing, while still processing, or at the end of it all. The stories have to do with bribery, fraud, and the corrupt process of acquiring the documents.

Everyone who goes there seems to be a V.I.P and does not have to wait for the document to be processed for him or her.

Victims testify

Some applicants who were processing their passports last week complained that the process was too corrupt and something had to be done by the top management.

Daniel W (not his real name) testified that his passport had taken nearly three months after paying SSP15, 000. However, the file was returned to him so that he could “contract” another person’ for whom he paid SSP20, 000. It was then, that he acquired the passport.

He added that he had abandoned his national identity card at the production stage, claiming that the officers had been telling him that his ID had been picked up by someone else.

“I first paid SSP 15,000 to an officer in a police uniform, but he didn’t complete the process. I had to later pay another person in the production unit an amount of SSP 20,000, after which I was able to acquire my passport, ” he said.

Tor (not his real name), who acquired the passport after a long wait, also said that he wasted a maximum of SSP 17,000 before he was able to receive the passport.

He stated that the administration was not aware of whether the practise was still happening since they warned the public that no one should pay bribes or receive bribes from anyone.

“I saw the immigration fix a lot of posters warning that if someone is caught paying or receiving money outside the right channel, they will face the law,” he explained.

“I first paid SSP 7,000 but did not get the passport. I had to pay another person at the production unit SSP10, 000, who then managed to get the passport for me. Those involved in fraud are the police, including those in uniform and others not in uniform. “

He said that some of the officers were reliable, but really few and overshadowed by the corrupt and fraudulent officers.

The director of information and public relations at the directorate of civil registry, nationality, passports, and immigration, James Mapuor Acuoth, could not be reached for a comment on this as his phone was off.

Passport booklets

The country had been missing passport booklets as a result of debts with the German company that prints the booklets and ships them into the country.

In May 2021, President Salva Kiir relieved the Director-General of the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passports and Immigration, Lt. Gen. John Maluth, and replaced him with Lt. Gen. Atem Marol Biar, but no reason was cited for his removal.

But Maluth’s administration had been having issues with the processing of nationality and passports for citizens, resulting in basic delays.

According to the committee that was formed by President Salva Kiir in 2020 to investigate fraud, the police immigration department had a record of economic fraud.

Achievements

Since his entry into office, Marol has had to raise some revenue so that passport booklets can be available to citizens.

In December 2021, the Director-General said they had received more than 40,000 booklets for processing regular passports and nationality certificates to relieve the backlog.

He added that when more passports are issued, the demand would be stable until the middle of 2022. He called on the general public to collect their certificates, which had already been printed.

“We have received 43,000 booklets for regular passports. It was actually a problem for the whole year, and we received 50,000 NCs. So, I want to assure you that next year, 2022, there will be no problem with regular passports in South Sudan because the number we received now is a big number; it will push us to half of this year”, he stated.

“I want to inform the people who actually completed the process of passports that the NCs will come during Christmas time to collect their documents. We are not closing, ” he added.

In November 2021, the director-general said the government had paid $3.4 million to Muhlbauer, a German company, in order to ship passport booklets and nationality certificates. He said that there was an additional $3 million that should be used to pay for printing additional passport booklets and nationality certificates.

 “The Ministry of Finance paid $1.4 million to the German company, Muhlbauer, and now we are left with a balance of $5 million, and it will be cleared by the government very soon,” he told the press.

In November 2021, 5,000 booklets were available and 49,000 nationality certificates, but there was already a shortage after this. Biar said they would be giving priority to students who study outside the country and patients who seek medical attention abroad.

“Today we have received 4,400 regular passports and 49,500 NC for nationality, so we have issued for nationality. There is no problem again. Yes, I know the big number in the system, but we are not going to use just random printing. You will come so that we can print it for you,” he said.