The Ministry of Internal Affairs has said it has destroyed 158,000 passports which remained uncollected for a longer period of time.
Addressing journalists on Monday, Internal Affairs spokesperson, Simon Mundeyi said the 158,000 were the older version passport booklets which remained uncollected for many years.
“The owners took their time to apply for these passports and went ahead to pay for them but failed to collect them. We sent them messages and issued announcements but still remain uncollected,” Mundeyi said.
He added that the 158,000 were later rendered invalid following the transition to electronic passports.
In 2023, Uganda transitioned to polycarbonate e-passports, replacing paper-based ones.
Speaking on Monday, the Internal Affairs spokesperson said currently, there are 12,580 newer versions of the electronic passports that are uncollected and are creating a storage backlog.
He warned that these too will be destroyed after some time.
Mundeyi said Internal Affairs currently has at least 60,000 passports returned by labour companies which had initially wanted to take Ugandan labour migrants to Gulf countries.
He urged owners to go to Internal Affairs and pick them.
“ They are still valid .We call upon all Ugandans who were not able to travel abroad to come and check for their passports.”
