Igara East MP, Raphael Magyezi popular for moving a private members bill that caused for the removal of the Age Limit from the constitution has asked Parliament to slash the prices of the new e-Passports to enable ordinary Ugandans afford the travel documents.
According to Magyezi, the prices of the new e-Passports are too high for the ordinary Ugandans to afford and as people’s representatives, they cannot simply look on.
The proposed costs of new e-passports are Shs250,000 to 300,000 for the ordinary passport up from Shs150,000 currently and Shs500,000 for a diplomatic passport up from Shs300,000.
The prices will come with an additional cost of Shs150,000 for an express passport.
Magyezi’s remarks come after the Internal Affairs Minister, Gen. Jeje Odongo on Tuesday announced that the first batch of the new East African Community E-Passports has arrived in Uganda.
Odongo told the media that the initial batch of 24,000 passports has been received from the Uganda Security Printing Company.
Odongo added that the e-Passports will be launched in January 2019 advising Ugandans who have not yet applied for passports and have no emergency to wait until next year.
Surprisingly, Magyezi’s was supported by Buhweju County MP, Mwijukye Francis of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) who said that the proposals on e-passports are unfair, illogical, expensive, and unattainable.