Rwanda launches automated passenger clearance

After close to four years of preparatory work, Rwanda’s Directorate of Immigration and Emigration on Friday launched a new system of automatic passenger clearance for arriving nationals at the Kigali International Airport.Incoming passengers who own Rwandan passports will no longer have to go through the normal immigration booths but instead use two electronic gates that will clear them automatically.An arriving, a national first register the number of his/her national identity card and the technology becomes automatic with the help of a passport machine reader and finger print scanner.Travelers scan their passports to open the first set of the gates while the second set opens by use of finger print recognition. The whole process takes about 17 seconds.During the official launch, Ange Sebutege, the Public Relations Officer at the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration said that the best advantage of the system is that it is time saving.“Its clear that this airport is not big enough and the technology will reduce the tendency of waiting in long queues for clearance,” he said.He explained that the system is well protected from fraudulent attack where passengers may attempt to illegally go through without following the normal procedures or disguising with someone else’s passport.John Mirenge, Rwandair’s Chief Executive Officer observed that the fast moving technology might raise a few complaints where passengers could get cleared and wait for some time before accessing their luggage.“This new technology will enable passengers move swiftly through immigration procedures and it is important that all the other services within the airport follow suit in quickening their services,” he said.Mirenge said that good enough, programs to rehabilitate and expand the airport are underway whereby arriving passengers and those departing will be using different terminals.On her part, Venancie Tugireyezu, the Minister in the Presidents’s office said that the system will support other existing mechanism of facilitating investment as well as help to curb cross boarder crimes.