The government has cautioned Ugandans against engaging the services of “Brokers” to process passports.

Simon Peter Mundeyi, the Spokesperson of the Internal Affairs Ministry, spoke on Monday, June 26, 2023, during the weekly security press briefing at Naguru police headquarters, as brokers have continued to exploit passport applicants.

Mundeyi noted that they have been informed of many groups of brokers who are claiming to have connections inside internal affairs to extort money from desperate citizens.

“We urge Ugandans to personally apply for and process their own passports themselves and not deal with a third party,” said Mundeyi.

According to Mundeyi, the group is along Nasser and Nkrumah roads, and they have continuously extorted money from desperate applicants in the pretense of speeding up the process of acquiring their passports. He added that soon security will conduct an operation against them.

“You can apply for a passport from our online portal, pay the money in the bank, and have the details submitted. Your passport will be processed, and when it’s ready, you will get a notification, and you can pick it up personally,” said Mundeyi.

Mundeyi also noted that Ugandans are now allowed to enter Kenya and Rwanda with only the National Identification Card.

Currently, an ordinary passport costs 250,000 UGX, while for an express processing fee, the applicant is required to pay an extra 150,000 UGX separately in a bank.