The Lesotho Department of Immigration Pledges to Improve Services

The above pledge was presented in Parliament this February 13, by the Minister in the Prime Minister's office, Matooane Mokhosi, for the Minister of Home Affairs, Mopshatla Mabitle, in response to Senator Sofonea Shale's question seeking clarification on the procedure followed for obtaining passports.  Minister Mokhosi promised that, every Lesotho national who makes an application for a passport will get it timeously.  He said, the recent development whereby passports are issued regularly has been problematic in that, it is the first time to use computers for the purpose and that, the Department has by now identified problem areas and will rectify them.

Minister Mokhosi went on to say, it has come to the attention of the Minister of Home Affairs that, services the Department of Immigration provide cause a lot of grievances to part of the public; as a result, measures have already been taken by the Minister to combat the problem,  they include:  

1. that, the public take their grievances to the Director of Immigration if the desk officers fail them.
2. that, after applications for passports are processed in Maseru, printed passports be promptly taken back to the districts to avoid unnecessary delays.
3. to address the issue of corruption on the part of desk officers.

Minister Mokhosi further said, the public who fail to be served satisfactorily at a district level should consult their District Secretaries in that regard; if the District Secretaries in turn fail them, they should proceed to the Minister of Home Affairs to lodge their complaints.