UGANDA'S PASSPORT OFFICE NEEDS TO MODERNIZE.

The first thing the passport office has to sort is the conducting of business under tents. It is unacceptable. You may not imagine what goes on when its a rainy day. Business just has to be at a standstill. The water then drains through the clients and some may have no where to go to get shelter. The Ministry of Internal Affairs should immediately relocate the services conducted under tents to some suitable locality which can accommodate the numbers and conveniently.

Secondly, it bothers to see staff who should be on their desks busy chasing passports and helping all sorts of clients. In the process, they not only make the system inefficient, but the way they jump the queue gets disgusting. This should be banned. Each staff should remain in his/her seat so that the duties for which they were recruited meet them there.

On arrival at the Passport office, you just see confusion. There is no proper directions given to clients, that is: where one is received, etc. Operating under tents greatly contributes to this confusion.

It is not clear why the passport office does not use the National IDs information and possibly add to what there is already in the N.ID's data.

Applicants should be helped to know what has to be attached to the application. It is very frustrating to reach the reception table for interview when either a personal application letter is missing or a photocopy of some pages of the passport for those re -knowing. The profession aspect is also not well handed. May be this calls for the applicant attaching academic documents and the office makes a decision.

The issue of a passport size photograph. If we have the National IDs but then it is found necessary to take photos, it is best for the office to provide that service. Imagine you ask an individual to attach passport size photos and he/she calls back to collect the passport and its when you tell them how their photos were rejected! The office should have cameras which can be used to take clients photos that are acceptable.

The office should be able to use the client telephone contact to inform them of any matter that calls for clarification. It is very disappointing to call at the office hoping to collect the passport and instead you are referred to room 6 to see the security officer over a matter you could have sorted if only the office had rang you and informed you.

People call at the office to check for passports. These days organizations have come up with electronic measures by which such information can be checked so that one travels from home sure that the travel document is fully processed.