Power Failure Holds Up 400 Passports Source: Africa News Service Publication date: 2000-06-03

Kampala - Close to 400 passport applicants, including 70 from the President's Office, were held up on Wednesday and Thursday by an electricity shut-down at the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kampala. Mr. Robert Kanuma, a senior Immigration Public Relations Officer, confirmed the two-day lapse on Thursday and blamed it on the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB).

"Our computer security-printer relies on regular electricity, but we had power fluctuations in the main building where it operates. The technology is too sensitive to risk so we had to switch it off," Kanuma said.

"We haven't printed passports for two days. On average, we issue 150 to 200 passports daily. We requisitioned for a generator but the quotations were first sent to the Central Tender Board and we are waiting for a word on that," he said.

(Copyright 2000 New Vision.)

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 04, 2000