By Bida Elly David
Inspector General of Police, General Atem Marol Biar, said South Sudan, as chair of the East African Community (EAC), should expedite the processing and printing of EAC passports.
General Marol was speaking during the welcoming ceremony of the new Director General for the Directorate of Civil Registry, National, Passport, and Immigration on Thursday.
The East African passport is a document aimed at regulating the uniform movement of citizens within countries in the East African region.
Speaking during the event, the IGP stated that South Sudan, being the chair of the East African community, through the chairmanship of President Salva Kiir, will now come up with the sample.
Kiir’s police chief now directed the newly appointed director general of immigration, passports, and nationality to speed up the production of East African Community passports.
“The samples are there; they needed to be printed, and then immediately you will be given instructions by the minister according to the directives from the presidency for the official printing of the EAC passports,’’ he stated.
Atem said South Sudanese have been so lucky to have the East African chairmanship, saying the country’s immigration also leads the bloc.
He, however, warned the institution against giving in to external interference to sabotage the processing of the passports.
“We have already agreed with the company and will not be sabotaged by some people, and this is the time since our president is the chairperson of the EAC,’’ he said.
“We do not want us to be challenged by the community; if they ask Kiir, being the chair, if we have an East African passport, we will find it hard to answer being the head of the bloc,’’ Atem noted.
IGP gave the director of immigration three months as a time frame to ensure that the sample was ready to be handed to the chair of the EAC bloc.
To achieve that, the IGP urged the new director general to engage the information, communication, and technology (ICT) department to begin exercising their duties.
“If we want to succeed, we succeed through the ICT, and if we fail it also in the ICT, it is a very complex unit since they don’t joke around,’’ he hinted.
Moreover, Gen. Marol described the immigration ICT department as a small unit but capable of running the institution as a whole.
For his part, Simon Majur Pabek, the new director general of the directorate of civil registry, national, passport, and immigration, welcomed the initiative and promised to execute it as required through the directives.
He emphasized the need for total commitment from the staff of the institution, particularly the body that is going to be in charge of the initiative.
Majur assured that he will do his best in his capacity to ensure that South Sudan receives a positive reputation from the region and Africa at large.
In November last year, President Kiir assumed the role of chair of the East African Community Heads of States summit, with a huge task to undertake activities necessary for countries in the regional membership.