… 5th most powerful in Africa
BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE – The Global Passport Index has ranked the Kingdom of Eswatini 60th most powerful in the world.
The Eswatini has moved up to the 60th most powerful in the world, from last year’s 72nd ranking.
The rankings by the Global Passport Index were released early this week.
In the meantime, the Eswatini Passport has been ranked the fifth most powerful passport in Africa for the year 2022. It was ranked number seven last year.
A country’s passport strength is measured by a number of countries it can enter VISA free and Eswatini Passport holders can travel to over 77 countries VISA free.
According to the Global Passport Index, Eswatini Passport holder can instantly go to 46 countries without VISA, they would make VISA on site in 36 countries and they need a VISA in 118 countries.
Eswatini out-ranks Egypt, Zambia, Morocco, Nigeria, Ethiopia and many other countries. The country is out-ranked by South Africa, Botswana and many other countries.
A country with the most powerful in the world is the United Arab Emirates. A country with the least powerful passport in the world is Afghanistan.
When sought for comment, the Ministry of Home Affairs Communications Officer Mlandvo Dlamini, the ministry was doing everything in its might to continue improving the county’s passport security systems.
“The ranking also means we comply with all ICAO protocols- which means out passport is up to standard,” said Dlamini.
According to LiquiSearch, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) issues passport standards which are treated as recommendations to national governments. The size of passports normally comply with ISO/IEC 7810 ID-3 standard, which specifies a size of 125 × 88 mm (4.921 × 3.465 in). This size is the B7 format.
This information comes a month after we published thatthe ministry was in the process of implementing revamped civil registration system.
This simply means long queues and network disturbances will soon be a thing of the past.
When sought for comment, the National Civil Registrar, Russell Nxumalo, confirmed that the ministry was implementing a revamped civil registration system that sought to make the registration of vital events ( births, marriages and deaths) not only easier, but user friendly and also shorter.
“Our (2022 – 2026) Strategic Plan and the National Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Bill, 2022 will address the digitisation and modernisation of the department so that it confirms to international standards such as World Health Organisation (WHO) ICD 11 and the Sustainable Development Goals, target 16. 9 on legal identity,” briefly commented Nxumalo.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been trending for impeccable service delivery. EmaSwati have expressed their opinion on their social media pages and personally to the ministry.
Worth noting is that just about a year ago, the same ministry was being trolled for poor service delivery and long queues which saw people sleeping overnight at service centres just to get service.
The compliment has come after the Ministry of Home Affairs has created the Strategy of 2022/2026. The strategy stipulates that the production of travel documents and National IDs are to be a same-day service in Mbabane and Manzini and that Birth and Death Certificates made within 60 days are to be handed out in 60 minutes.
EmaSwati came out to congratulate the ministry, saying they are doing what they had promised to do.
“Turns out the rumour is a reality. Eswatini turnaround time in getting passport is same day. Congratulations Ministry of Home Affairs, impeccable,” posted one social media user.
Other nationals on the other hand, praised the ministry for making their officials identifiable, making them more efficient.
