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Sources closed to the government of Sierra Leone revealed that the government has partnered with Securiport to ensure that Sierra Leone issues a well-secured E-Visa system for people entering and exiting the country.
Securiport has a very good track record in the management of security in Sierra Leone and they have been in Sierra Leone since 2012 when Alshabab threatened to attack Sierra Leone for its participation in the peace mission to date.
Today, Securiport system is now working with all the internal security sectors including the Office of National Security (ONS), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) among others.
E- Visa simply means an Electronic-Visa- it is an official document that permits people to enter and travel within the country. E-Visa systems create a situation in which people can sit in their comfort zones and apply for a visa using their hand devices without necessarily having any physical contact.
This system will ensure that people coming into Sierra Leone would have been thoroughly scrutinized to ensure that people with criminal records don’t sneak into the country.
Thus, an electronic visa system especially one that is being done by Securiport will ensure that people with criminal backgrounds are being detected and denied entry into the country.
Also, an E-Visa system has the huge potential of saving huge revenue for the government. With the current manual visa stamp system Audit Reports year in and year out have pointed out how the government is losing millions, hence the need for an E-Visa system.
In the recently published Audit report, it is observed that the Immigration Department is issuing visas in a stamp form, rather than actual visa stickers which makes it difficult to ensure a complete trace of the quantities of visas issued and revenue collected.
Therefore, by partnering with Securiport to issue E-Visa in Sierra Leone, it has shown that the government is serious about dealing with wastage and corruption in the immigration sector thereby increasing government revenue.
It will also improve on the quality of Sierra Leonean Visa issued there by preventing tampering of Visa.
Furthermore, almost all other countries in the sub-region have moved from outdated manual visa stamps to a much more modern and secured E-Visa System.
This has shown that the Govt of President Bio takes its primary responsibility to secure the nation seriously and ensure an E-Visa system that meets international standards.
