The Edward Francis Small Center for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) have demanded transperancy and accountability for the recent increment of passport cost and services.
“While we welcome the decentralization of passport services, we are concerned about the cost and duration of the passport. Our concern stems from the history of passport services as well as the status of other national documents for which we demand transparency and accountability from the Government.” the center said.
The Gambia Government started producing Gambian biometric passports locally at the Immigration Department under the GAMBIS system. This changed in 2013 when the Government went into a 15-year contract with a Spanish company, Zetes under a BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) arrangement. Zetes then subcontracted the project to what it calls its local partner, Africard, and the first biometric passport was delivered in December2013. On their website Zetes said they, “will also deliver an automated identity control eGate at the airport border. According to the company, this is the first time it has deployed this kind of technology.”.
The release continued: “We have sought to locate the offices and website of Africard to no avail. Similarly, there is no website for GAMBIS nor is it mentioned on the website of the Gambia Immigration Department or the Ministry of Interior. We also note that there is on ongoing contract with Securiport which is operating at our airport, and recently media reports indicate another contract with a Ghanaian company, Margins Group to produce our national documents.
For purposes of transparency and accountability, EF Small Centre is interested to know why the Government went into a contract with Securiport in 2019 when Zetes claimed theirongoing contract with the Government included providing “eGate at the border airport.”. The center stated.
The Center added: “We are of the view that D5100 is too high a cost for which the Government has not provided any justification. We maintain that the passport should remain at its present cost or further reduced. We further request a review of the Immigration Act to revise the duration of the passport from 5 to 10 years. Five years is a short duration which imposes unnecessary inconvenience as well as inadvertently increasing the cost of the passport.
In this regard, we urge the Government to review the contracts with Zetes/Africard, Securiport and Margins Group with a view to terminating them for the following objectives:To nationalise the production of all national documents – birth certificate, national ID card, ID card for foreign nationals, voter’s cards, driver’s license and passport. Not only will such an approach guarantee the security of these documents, but it also builds national capacity while preventing unnecessary and avoidable delays, as well as ensure their affordability.”.
