Press Releases
Department of Immigration opens New Customer Service Center.
September 12, 2007. Lusaka
LUSAKA — The Department of Immigration today opened its new Customer Service Center at the Lusaka Immigration Headquarters. The new center provides public access to immigration services in a transparent and streamlined manner. Home Affairs Minister Lt. General Ronnie Shikapwasha and U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Carmen Martinez inaugurated the center, which developed with technical assistance from the USAID/Millennium Challenge Account Zambia Threshold Project.
The Immigration Department also unveiled a new set of service standards with a new Automated Case Management System. The system provides a failsafe record of applications and processing of permits. An electronic queue management system will simultaneously manage four client areas: visas, work permits, entry permits and other services. A cashier’s booth will be available for instant payment of fees, and trained desk officers will handle the full range of client services. In addition, the Department can now streamline and automate many of its services electronically, eliminating the need for paper files, a practice previously responsible for delays in service delivery and creation of opportunities for corruption.
The new Customer Service Center will provide clear, user-friendly information, including the cost of services and time required to complete jobs. Chief Immigration Officer Ndiyoyi Mutiti is pleased with the new system and the clarity it brings to immigration services. “I encourage members of the public to review our new standards and help us improve even further by contacting us. We aim to be as open and as transparent as we possibly can,” she says.
Ambassador Martinez is confident that the new Customer Service Center will send a positive message to the Zambian public and visitors. “The new standards will communicate to both existing businesses and potential investors alike that Zambia is committed to quality service and that the Department of Immigration, which is so vital to business operations and financial success, will be a true partner for the nation’s economic development,” she says.
The Zambia Threshold Project, funded through a two-year, $22.7 million agreement between the Government of Zambia and USAID, is a project designed to prevent corruption in targeted government institutions, improve public sector delivery to the private sector, and improve border management and trade.
For more information, contact Jason Villar, senior advisor, Millennium Challenge Account Threshold Program, USAID/Zambia, Tel: 254303/6, Fax: 254532.
# # #