🚨 BREAKING: Special Envoy Adut Kiir Allegedly Orders Passports Issued Only to New Applicants After Supplying 10,000 Booklets, Pending Applicants Excluded
Juba, South Sudan – February 2026
In the sweltering heat of Juba’s Ministry of Interior compound, hundreds of South Sudanese citizens have queued for days, clutching faded application receipts, medical referrals, university admission letters, and worn passports from neighboring countries. For many, a South Sudanese passport is more than a travel document — it is a lifeline to education abroad, emergency medical treatment in Kenya or Uganda, business opportunities in the Gulf, or family reunions in the vast diaspora. Yet, despite a high-profile government intervention in mid-January 2026 that delivered 10,000 new passport booklets, fresh allegations have surfaced claiming that the very official credited with ending the shortage has imposed restrictions that exclude thousands of long-waiting applicants.
The claims, circulating widely on social media and in Juba’s bustling markets and WhatsApp groups since late January, center on Hon. Adut Salva Kiir Mayardit — Senior Presidential Envoy for Special Programmes, daughter of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, and a figure whose rapid rise has drawn both praise and scrutiny. According to the unverified reports, Adut Kiir personally facilitated the procurement of the 10,000 booklets from a German supplier after the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality and Passports had failed to secure fresh stock despite collecting approximately 150 USD from each applicant. Once the consignment arrived, sources allege she directed the Ministry to process only new applications submitted after the delivery date. Pending files — some dating back months — were reportedly sidelined, with applicants told they must reapply and repay the full fee under the new batch.
Even more explosively, the allegations claim that part of the arrangement required passport fees under this system to be paid directly to Adut Kiir or her office as a condition tied to the procurement deal. “The Director couldn’t get the booklets despite the money collected,” one anonymous source familiar with the Directorate’s operations told local contacts. “People were paying 150 dollars, waiting in the sun for weeks, and nothing moved. Then the Envoy steps in, brings the books, and suddenly only fresh applicants are served. Where did the old money go?”
As of February 22, 2026, neither the Ministry of Interior, the Directorate of Immigration, nor Adut Kiir’s office has issued a direct rebuttal to these specific charges. The silence has only amplified public anxiety.
Background: A Chronic Passport Crisis
Passport shortages have plagued South Sudan since independence in 2011. The country’s Directorate has struggled with outdated systems, supplier debts, corruption scandals, and the sheer volume of demand from a young, mobile population and a massive refugee/diaspora community estimated at over two million. Applicants routinely pay the 150 USD fee (sometimes more in unofficial “facilitation” charges) only to wait three to six months — or longer — while booklets run out. Stories abound of students missing scholarship deadlines in Europe or Canada, patients unable to seek specialized care in Nairobi, and businesspeople stranded without valid travel documents.
In early January 2026, the situation reached a boiling point. The German-based supplier had halted deliveries over an outstanding debt reportedly exceeding 9.5 million USD. Processing ground to a near-halt. Frustrated applicants staged small protests outside the Ministry gates. Social media filled with photos of long queues and pleas for intervention.
Enter Adut Salva Kiir. Appointed in August 2025 as Senior Presidential Envoy for Special Programmes, the president’s eldest daughter had already begun carving out a visible role in high-level economic and service-delivery matters. On January 19, 2026, she made a high-profile visit to the Directorate in Juba. Official media — including Eye Radio and SSBC — broadcast her inspection tour and speeches.
In widely shared footage, Adut Kiir stood before Directorate staff and declared: “The Office of the Special Envoy was tasked with making sure that the issuance of passports resumes and never stops. I am here today to guarantee that this service will continue.” She announced that the government had harmonized relations with the German supplier through a debt-clearance pledge and that 10,000 fresh passport booklets, along with nationality and civil registry materials, had been delivered. She praised the Director General for swift action and revealed plans to digitize payments through the National Revenue Authority (NRA) to prevent future disruptions. “We have a list of priorities, and one of them is the issuance of passports,” she added. “In the future, we should not be sitting in the sun.”
The visit was presented as a triumph of presidential initiative. For a few days, hope surged. Processing reportedly resumed, and some applicants received their documents.
The Allegations Emerge
By late January, however, frustration returned. Queues lengthened again. Applicants who had submitted files in November or December 2025 — and paid their 150 USD — were reportedly told their applications could not be processed with the new booklets. They were instructed to submit fresh forms and pay again. Rumors quickly coalesced into the detailed claims now circulating.
Multiple Facebook posts and local WhatsApp forwards, many under headlines like “PASSPORT DELAYS SPARK CONFUSION AS OFFICIALS ISSUE CLARIFICATION,” described the alleged directive: only post-delivery applications would be honored under the new stock. One widely shared version closely mirrors the details provided in the breaking report: pending applicants excluded from the new batch; fees allegedly rerouted directly to the Envoy’s office as part of the procurement conditions.
The Directorate of Immigration eventually issued a statement dismissing the claims as unfounded and attributing ongoing delays to “administrative reasons” rather than financial or supply issues. Yet the clarification stopped short of addressing the specific accusations about reapplication requirements or direct payments to Adut Kiir. No independent audit of the collected fees or the exact terms of the German supplier deal has been made public.
Public Reaction and Broader Context
The controversy has hit a nerve in a country where public trust in institutions remains fragile. Many citizens, already burdened by economic hardship, hyperinflation, and the lingering effects of years of conflict, see the passport saga as emblematic of deeper governance challenges. “I paid my money in December,” one Juba resident told local journalists on condition of anonymity. “Now they say I must pay again because the booklets are ‘new’? Where is the justice?”
Others defend Adut Kiir, pointing to her visible efforts to resolve the crisis when the responsible directorate could not. Supporters note that she has been involved in other high-profile initiatives, including prisoner releases and efforts to strengthen international partnerships. They argue that unverified social-media claims risk undermining genuine progress in service delivery.
Critics, however, highlight the optics of a presidential daughter intervening in what should be a routine bureaucratic function. South Sudan has long grappled with perceptions of nepotism and elite capture of state resources. While Adut Kiir’s defenders emphasize her competence and direct problem-solving style, skeptics question whether personal or informal arrangements have crept into official procurement.
No evidence has surfaced publicly to substantiate the most serious claims of direct personal payments. Yet the absence of transparent accounting — how much was collected before the shortage, how the debt was exactly settled, and who controls the new batch allocation — has left room for suspicion to fester.
What Happens Next?
As of this writing, the Ministry of Interior has not released a comprehensive breakdown of passport issuance statistics since the January delivery. Calls for an independent inquiry from civil society groups and opposition voices have grown louder on social media. Applicants with pending files continue to wait, some now facing renewed financial strain if forced to reapply.
Further updates are expected in the coming days. The Directorate has promised to accelerate processing, and sources close to the Envoy’s office suggest additional booklets may be en route under the new digital payment system.
For ordinary South Sudanese, however, the episode underscores a painful reality: even when solutions arrive, questions of fairness, accountability, and equal access to basic state services remain unresolved. In a nation still healing from conflict and striving to build functional institutions, the passport controversy is more than a bureaucratic hiccup — it is a test of whether high-level interventions truly serve the public or merely rearrange the same old problems.
The people of South Sudan, many of whom have waited months and paid dearly, deserve clarity, transparency, and — above all — the passports they have already paid for. Until official answers arrive, the queues in Juba will continue to grow, and the whispers of discontent will grow louder.
This article is based on publicly circulating reports, official statements from January 2026, Directorate clarifications, and eyewitness accounts shared in local media and social platforms. Allegations remain unverified pending any formal investigation or response from the named parties.
