With just four days left to the grand opening ceremony to the East African university Games, many students from across universities in Uganda have no hope of participating in the event after they could not acquire travel Passports, while a huge number failed to pass the passport interviews set by the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Friday last week.
According to the list released by the Ministry today, over 800 students have their passports already issued and verified at the ministry and are free to pick it any time during working hours. However, 89 students who sat for the interviews did not make it because they failed the passport interviews while 68 of them had issues with their national identity cards.
East African University Games is scheduled to commence on Friday, December 16, 2016 next week at Jomo Kenyatta University in Nairobi Kenya. With opening ceremony only left with three days, the hope of the affected students still lies unclear since the Ministry has not yet verified all their documents. By press time, the Ministry had not yet released officially the names of the affected students and their universities but the total number of students who were affected stands at 157 out of the over 800 who applied for the passports according to a notice at Ministry’s notice Board.
To be able to participate in the games, one must acquire a valid passport and relevant travel documents. Participants also must be vaccinated against yellow fever virus and must have documents to show proof of the vaccination in a recognized health facility.
The East African University games opening ceremony will be held on December 16, 2016 and games will start promptly. The event is set to draw several universities in East Africa and the closing function will be on Wednesday, December 20, 2016.
