Douala: The first biometric passports have arrived
- 8 juillet 2021
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Launched on the 1st of July 2021, 143 biometric passports have arrived the Littoral Region and the distribution exercise has begun.
At 3h30pm Wednesday July 7, 2021 in Douala the immigration office in Bonanjo is overcrowded. Some are sitting, others standing but all impatient for they have been waiting for long. On one section, persons who came to collect their biometric passport, on the other, some struggling to complete their enrollment while the other section are those who came to take the normal passport.
Mr Ngoh is one of the Cameroonians who rushed to the immigration office upon receing an alert via his mail that his biometric passport is available. “I could not believe when i saw the mail this morning informing me of the availability of my passport because i enrolled online on the 1st of July and completed on July 5th”
Just like Mr Ngoh, all passport applicants would have to follow a procedure before signing out their identification document. The withdrawal procedure is as complex as the enrollment but worth the wait for the applicants who have to sync their details in a system for the biometric passport to become functional.
143 biometric passports have arrived
143 passports have arrived and more is still coming as Cameroonians continue to enroll. But applicants demand order be instituted at the immigration office for everyone to be served accordingly. As at now, six posts have been created within the immigration office to receive applicants but they are still to set up specific withdrawal points.
Mpoh Mvondo Tagouh Thérèse principal police commissioner at the immigration office has however promised things will change once a production centre is established in Douala. This new passport is the fruit of a public private partnership between Cameroon, a Portuguese consortium and a German firm that is expected to last 10 years.
Veronica Aji
