Some 2,029 passports have been processed this week, and are ready for collection at the Immigration offices in Nakuru.
County Commissioner Mr. Loyford Kibaara announced that another 5,090 applications for passports were being processed and would be ready within two weeks.
He said a total of 7,119 applications had been made in Nakuru since the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI), which seeks to clear the passport backlog nationwide was launched two weeks ago.
Kibaara however expressed concern that thousands of passports processed earlier remained uncollected at the immigration offices in Nakuru.
Data from the Interior Ministry revealed that at the Nakuru Immigration office, 6,495 passports are still due for pick-up.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kindiki Kithure on September 19, 2023, initiated a 30-day Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) for the delivery of uncollected passports at the Immigration Department’s Nyayo House Headquarters and all regional offices.
The initiative is part of the policy and operational reforms to resolve the backlog in the processing and issuance of passports and other vital citizenship documents.
The County Commissioner warned that passports that stay uncollected after their stipulated period of collection will be disposed of and the owners penalized in accordance with the law.
“Persons who fail to pick up their documents within the stipulated period and at the expiry of the due notice will have their passports disposed of in accordance with the law and penalized when making a future application,” Mr. Kibaara warned.
Addressing journalists at the immigration offices, the administrator affirmed that the government has stepped up efforts to improve efficiency at the Immigration Department following public outcry over delayed processing of the travel documents.
The County Commissioner indicated that since the operation to restore delivery time for travel documents by the Interior CS the turnaround period has greatly improved and the process is less hectic.
He announced that emergency applications for persons seeking medical care abroad, students due for admission to learning institutions outside Kenya, and people who have secured job opportunities that have a clear reporting deadline are being processed expeditiously.
According to Prof. Kindiki, the reforms in the immigration department were bearing fruit, and that people should visit to collect passports.
The department is currently printing about 5,000 passports daily but Kindiki said orders have been placed for new printers that will triple or quadruple the number.
Mr. Kibaara observed that The RRI system has reduced long queues at the immigration offices, as well as made the issuing faster and more efficient.
The CS had earlier attributed the passport backlog to corruption, inadequate resources, and delayed passport processing.
He assured the public that he will reduce the backlog and since then, he has paid numerous impromptu visits to Nyayo House, a move he said was aimed at motivating staff members to work harder.
In this regard, he introduced double working shifts to speed up the process.
The CS said then that 87,574 passports were ready but remained uncollected.
For ease of collection, Kindiki said names of applicants whose passports will be due for collection the following week will be published every Wednesday to streamline the collection process.
As of September 29, 2023, some 22,353 passports had been delivered to Kenyans countrywide in the first week of RRI.
The distributions of collected passports include Nyayo House (Nairobi) – 9,331, Embu Regional Office (2,426), Eldoret Regional Office (2,297), Kisumu Regional Office (1,763), Nakuru Regional Office (1,528), Kisii Regional Office (1,254) and Mombasa Regional Office (3,754).
By Anne Mwale
