By Lovemore Khomo
Malawi Homeland Security Minister Kenneth Zikhale Ng’oma has warned officers issuing passports illegally to foreign nationals and holders that they will face the wrath of the law once caught.
Zikhale Ng’oma was speaking during a press briefing on Monday in Lilongwe following reports that a Rwandese genocide fugitive Fulgence Kayishema was found with a Malawian passport when he got arrested in South Africa on 25th May 2023.
The homeland minister blamed both office holders and foreigners who seek asylum for orchestrating the malpractice.
“Through our investigations, we are following up on who issued this and other passports. They shall face the music if found. We are fixing the broken system, and this will be accomplished,” warned Zikhale Ng’oma.
Fulgence Kayishema was charged with genocide by International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda in 2001 for suspected to have masterminded the killing of over 2000 people who sought refuge in a church in Kivumu, Rwanda.
Commenting on the exercise for the relocation of refugees and asylum seekers to Dazaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa district, the homeland minister dismissed some reports that government used over K750 million for the exercise.
He said government only spent K16 million on fuel and no allowances for operation personnel was given out.
He further explained that the Department for Refugees did not spend any penny on feeding the refugees and asylum seekers nor healthcare as this was taken care of by the Prison Services.
Zikhale then pointed out that the task on rounding up of refugees and asylum seekers will take a year or over to finish hence the need for calm. The homeland minister has also warned against illegal guns, and advised that all who keep them at their homes should surrender to Police to ensure that peace, law and order is observed.
