According to a statement from the Ministry of the Interior (Minint), to which VerAngola had access, "two months after the first preliminary contact", the Minister of the Interior made, on Friday morning, an official visit to the general directorate of the SME, in Luanda, "to assess the state of organization and functioning, where he was received by the general director, José Coimbra Baptista Júnior".
"In addition to the recommendations made to those responsible, the visit highlighted Minint's concern with increasing efficiency in serving citizens and with the high number of passports issued and awaiting collection by citizens," the statement reads.
The visit, according to the ministry, also enabled a "working and alignment meeting, with a view to modernizing and improving administrative systems, adapting them to the needs of the population and the demands of security and management of migratory flows".
On the occasion, the minister said that it is necessary to take "some urgent decisions" that contribute to improving the "quality of the service provided by the SME".
"We need to make some urgent decisions that will allow us to improve the quality of the service provided by SME, with emphasis on documents processed more than three or four years ago," he said.
In this sense, quoted by Angop, the minister said that the SME has measures in preparation for the rapid issuance and granting of passports.
According to the minister, programs are being developed, which will come into effect in the coming days, to speed up the processes that were submitted to the institution and whose legal deadlines for completion have already expired.
"We will work uninterruptedly to ensure that all national citizens, who have processed their documents, have access to them," he said, quoted by Angop.
This Friday, Manuel Homem also visited the customs tax unit at 4 de Fevereiro International Airport.
"As part of the visit to verify the organization and functioning of the bodies that make up the Minint, the Minister of the Interior, Manuel Homem, visited the customs tax unit at the 4 de Fevereiro International Airport to assess the efficiency of the services provided", reads a note from the ministry, to which VerAngola had access.
This tax unit, says the note, "is a structure responsible for customs inspection and control of goods and passengers, ensuring compliance with customs rules and regulations, in order to ensure that all import and export operations are carried out in accordance with the current legislation".
