Trini in troubled Tanzania seeks help to replace lost passport

In this file photo, people protest a day after the general election following allegations of electoral irregularities in Arusha, Tanzania, on October 30. - AP PHOTO

A Trinidadian woman living in Tanzania has been on edge after the immigration office there misplaced her passport, leaving her with no legal identification or proof of residency when there is unrest in the country.

The woman, who requested to remain unidentified, moved to Tanzania several years ago to start a new life as she felt TT was a “dead end” as there was no way to advance in her career.

She explained she had to renew her resident visa every two years. She would send her passport and other documents to the immigration centre in the area in which she lived, which would forward those documents to the head immigration office in Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania. There, the documents would be processed and returned to her local immigration office, where she would collect her passport, with the new visa inside.

However, in 2023, when she went to collect her passport, she was told it was incomplete.

“They stamp your passport, and then there’s another pass you can have to keep with you when you’re travelling. They said they misplaced it and would call around to see if it was mistakenly sent to a different immigration office.

“I called several times, and they were never able to locate it. And they didn’t want to give me my passport without this document, which I don’t understand because I don’t see the need for that other document. But they said they preferred to give me both at the same time.”

Time passed until this year, when it was time to renew her visa. While attempting to do so, she was told they could not find her passport, and she had to arrange to get a new one.

She contacted the TT High Commission in Nigeria to see if she could get a new passport issued and was told to contact the High Commission in London. She did so, but never got a reply.

She believed her only option, which she did not want to take, was to return to Trinidad to apply for a new passport. It is a route she did not want to take as she had a job and a life there, and the business was always busy for the Christmas season.

Her main concern was for her safety as foreigners were being targeted.

She explained that this new direction came about due to the Tanzanian elections, which took place on October 29.

The official election result said the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, received 97.66 per cent of the vote or 31.9 million votes.

It was also said there was a turnout of 82 per cent, even though early reports from election day showed voter turnout was extremely low, hinting at election fraud.

She said protests began on the election day, and the protesters became violent, so the police and army were called out. The officers shot hundreds of people.

She said many residents were surprised by the violence because Tanzania was generally very peaceful, and nothing like that had ever happened before.

“They were burning police stations, polling stations and businesses of people who supported the ruling party, because people didn’t want this President (Samia Suluhu Hassan) to come back in office. They were saying it’s not a fair or free election because the two strongest opposition parties were basically not present for the election. The ruler of one opposition party was imprisoned, and the second in command wasn’t allowed to participate because of some trumped-up immigration charges.

“There have not been any official reports from the government, but outside sources say over 1,000 people were killed. I was hearing the gunshots from home for about three days. The internet was cut off for five days when things started to go south because they did not want any images and videos to be going out about what was happening.”

She reported that the government claimed most of the unrest was being caused by non-Tanzanians who had crossed the border illegally.

The resulting search for these foreigners included numerous roadblocks where people’s IDs were checked.

According to the BBC, many were arrested, and about 240 people were charged with treason at a court in the city of Dar es Salaam following the election protests.

During her inauguration speech, President Samia condemned the violence and blamed foreigners. According to a translation by the Associated Press, she said, “It was not a surprise that those arrested were from other countries.”

The Trinidadian said the statement made her very uncomfortable as she had no passport or visa.

“And if somebody stops me and asks for my papers, they won’t care it’s not my fault, I don’t have them. I didn’t even go into town for maybe two weeks after everything happened, even though they were saying everything was back to normal.”

Even if there was no unrest during the election, she said she would not have felt comfortable staying in the country without access to her documents.

She said she knew of several other Trinidadians living in the Tanzanian economic capital of Dar es Salaam, but none had spoken about the political troubles there.

“People haven’t been talking about it too openly because it’s sensitive. There were rumours of monitoring communications, and the authorities even sent out messages warning about sharing info that could be considered damaging.”

When Newsday contacted an immigration officer in Trinidad, he was able to provide a direct contact number for the High Commission in London, where the Tanzanian resident will be able to get a new passport mailed to her after filling out the appropriate forms online.

He said, “They told her the passport was lost somewhere in the system, but people take those things and sell them like crazy because our passport gives us access to so many countries without visas.

“They will just replace her name and photo, and they’re gone with that. It’s a big market in Europe too.”

He explained that while passports were processed in Trinidad, the London High Commission was the only one authorised by the Immigration Division to distribute new passports for Trinidadians in Europe, Africa and China.

Before getting on to the immigration officer, when Newsday sent a WhatApp message explaining the situation to Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers, he had also pledged his assistance.

However, the woman has since spoken to an immigration officer in London who assured her documents would be processed post haste when they are received.