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Revealed: How aliens obtain Tanzanian passports
2006-01-30 08:08:18
By Guardian Investigative Reporter
Lax security and lack of stringent immigration controls on highways leading to urban centres in the country have opened the floodgates for illegal immigrants from all parts of the world into the country.
Some of the immigrants have found Tanzania not only a country where citizenship can be obtained with incredible ease, but also a place where foreigners can run businesses without government interference.
An announcement by the Immigration Department last year that it would be difficult to forge new Tanzanian passports has been proved wrong as foreigners have easy access to the travel document, which is a preserve of Tanzanians.
The Guardian undercover team has secured multiple numbers of passports issued to illegal immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), some who own vast businesses empires in Dar es Salaam.
The immigrants confessed to have enjoyed the ’utmost co-operation’ of local agents who assured them of smooth entry and subsequent travel to destinations of their choice without hindrance.
Those interviewed said they do not understand why Tanzanians find it difficult to obtain a passport while the document is readily available to them once they ’oil the palms’ of some Immigration officers.
Pretending to be an illegal immigrant from Burundi seeking advice on how to obtain a Tanzanian passport, a group of musicians from the DRC found training in Kinondoni, volunteered to help this reporter.
’Mutu akitaka pasi hapa Tanzania rahisi muno’ (Tanzanian passport is easily obtained) said one of the musicians.
Explaining how he managed to find his way to Dar es Salaam, the man said he lied to Immigration officers in Kigoma that he wanted to visit relatives in the country.
But he said the sole purpose of his mission was to reach Dar es Salaam after learning from colleagues that once you step on Tanzanian soil there was no possibility being checked.
From Kigoma, he said, he took a train to Dar es Salaam and enjoyed hospitality accorded to him right from the moment he stepped out of the train at the Central Railway station.
The subject of passport acquisition drew the interest of the rest as each, still harbour fresh memories how he ’became a Tanzanian’.
He said that after arriving in Dar es Salaam he was received by a family (name withheld) and managed to present to the Immigration department names of his hosts as his true parents.
This paper conducted a survey in Dar es Salaam and located businesses run by DRC citizens at Kariakoo and Sinza areas, who obtained passports through forgery.
For the sake of those who volunteered information, the names and the kind of business the foreigners run remain anonymous for the time being.
Meanwhile, Friday Simbaya reports that 20 DRC nationals believed to have sneaked from refugee camps in Kigoma were arrested last Thursday in Njombe on their way to Mozambique.
Iringa Regional Police Commander Matei Basilio said the immigrants boarded a bus travelling to Morogoro from Kigoma, before they were arrested in Njombe Township.
He said the police in the area were tipped off by a resident who suspected the unusual presence of non-Swahili speakers in the area, trying to gather information from locals about Mozambique.
This comes on the back of a decision by Home Affairs Ministry, which recently refused to grant refugee status to more than 500 Burundians and Congolese refugees found to be living in the country illegally.
However, The Guardian has established that those denied stay in the country were just a tip of the iceberg, compared with the actual number of illegal immigrants from DRC living in the country.
The police chief identified the Congolese as Amo Kalenga (26), John Hamis (15), Abed Mseswa (25), Radis Swedi (17) and Kashindi Ramadhani (19).
Others are Grantina Sofia(22), Rehema Asha,(16), Rehema Kashindi (21), and Mwasiti Mliving, (25) and Neema Msimango (15).
The list also includes Rahabu Eshimore (18) Everine Babechwe (10), Feli Tunganwe(3), John Abed (1), Kakosi Abed (4), Mwajuma Kakosi (5), Almas Khamis (6) Sabina Esperanse (2), Numweno Monga (4), and Esperanse Husein (2).
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