Mangochi — The Minister of Home Affairs, Uladi Mussa has appealed to immigration officers in the country to ensure they meet deadlines for the issuing of various travel documents including the Malawian passport to applicants.

Mussa was speaking on Wednesday in Mangochi when he opened a two-day national conference for the Immigration Department.

He said it was important for the immigration sector to work with speed in processing such travelling documents like the passport and visas in order to meet the national demand for both new and old applicants.

"That smooth process will go a long way to attracting foreign direct investors besides getting rid of middlemen in the processing of the Malawian Passport.

"I tend to wonder whether all the people who throng the immigration offices are indeed genuine applicants. To me, most of these people take advantage of the system to cash in on the document," Mussa queried.

He added that the country's trade was dependent on movement of people and that such movement was supposed to be done with ease.

Mussa said it is imperative for the department to improve its service delivery in line with government's development goals and in support of the economic recovery plan.

The minister said on its part, government would promote staff in the sector as a motivation and also recruit more officers. "It pains me to see an officer stuck in one position for many years and expect the same person to work efficiently."

On handling of foreigners, Mussa said the immigration has a critical role to play in creating a good image of the country which hinges on the immigration as a critical sector, urging the officers to adhere to professionalism when discharging duties to create a positive image for the sector.

"The way you handle foreigners is either good or bad news for the country which calls for diligence. It must always be borne in your mind that the immigration is the engine for the country's economy," Mussa added.

On this note, Mussa assured that government would engage its strategic partners to allocate resources to the department to ensure delivery of quality services to the public. He also said government would continue to support the department.

The Chief Immigration Officer, Hudson Mankhwala boasted that in 2011/12 Financial Year the immigration had registered a number of successes, citing the recruitment and deployment of 315 officers to newly established and revived border posts across the country.

Some of the newly opened border posts include Mbilima in Chitipa, Chimaliro and Chisinga in Kasungu, Mkanda and Namizana in Mchinji, Sandama and Chinyama in Mulanje and Fort Maquire, Makanjira and Maleta in Mangochi.

However, Mankhwala asked government to consider putting in place an Immigration Service Commission, review the Immigration and Citizenship Act as recommended by the Law Commission and need for a budget for development projects which would cater for offices in border posts and staff houses.

"Our budget for 2013/14 is pegged at K677million which is not adequate. Our resource constraint is so huge to the extent that we can maintain the old fleet of vehicles and infrastructure as a result of the newly opened and reopened border posts," he said. Mankhwala, therefore, advised his subordinates to maintain high standards of discipline by among other things desisting from corruption.

"Mind you, we now have a corruption policy and I would not expect anyone to act outside the policy that we generated ourselves, because corruption, after all, is evil," he cautioned.

On the other hand, he asked the officers to avoid indulging in promiscuous behaviours to avoid contracting HIV and Aids which has a very devastating effect on the country's socio-economic status.

"Aids is real and my message is that we should refrain and if we cannot, then use a condom... it is acceptable," he pointed out. Earlier, the officers observed a minute of silence in honour of their colleagues departed in the year just gone by.