South Sudan’s government has resumed normal operations in the issuance of passports and national identification certificates after one month shut down.
South Sudan Directorate of Passports and Immigration could not issue passports since November after its German technology provider shut down its machine because the finance ministry failed to pay $ 500,000, a report rejected by the directorate’s director general.
Speaking during a press conference in Juba today, Lt. Gen. Majak Akech Malok, Director General of the Directorate of Passports and Immigration, said they have officially resumed work saying the system was having technical problems. The top official denied the German company had switch off its server to demand unpaid bills.
“Today, I am giving a statement to the citizens across the country that we stopped producing nationality and passports documents since date 9th last month. There was a technical problem but we have managed to solve it,” he said.
“I have to inform our public that we have resumed our operation and whoever wants to apply for the national certificate and passports, we are ready to serve,” he said.
According to director general, the backlog that was caused by the technical faults last month will be cleared, saying the institution will be working during normal working days until Saturday.