Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Amb. Julius Bitok has guaranteed Kenyans that they will get their passports within a period of three to seven days.
The PS was speaking in Mombasa today at a Mombasa Hotel when he met with the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Delegated Legislation to discuss the refugees’ regulations.
He said the passport backlog at the nerve center of passport operations in Nyayo House has reduced significantly in the last few days.
“I want to assure the country that services at Nyayo House are going well. Right now, we are producing about 3600 passports per day. The backlog which was about 100,000 has now been reduced to about 45,000.
“In the next two weeks, there will be no backlog of passports in Nyayo House. There is a lot of work going on with all arms of government – legislature, and executive to ensure that there is a proper clean-up of Nyayo House,” said Bitok.
The PS said the government has already ordered new passport printers and enough booklets, and soon Kenyans will be able to get the travel document in a maximum of seven days due to security vetting.
He added: “And even going forward, we are saying we believe it will be possible to get a passport within three days. We are going to introduce services like express service to ensure that Kenyans can get passports on time and that it’s possible with current arrangements which we have put in place.”
“I want to assure the country that in the next few months, you will no longer wait for your passports for a long time. You’ll get it in a record time, either three days or a maximum of seven days,” the PS assured Kenyans.
The PS clarified the statement made by Interior CS Prof. Kithure Kindiki was taken out of context as “the CS was trying to explain that there has been a problem of delays in passports and the media somehow took it out of context.”
Nyayo House, the PS noted is a critical government infrastructure and houses many government agencies including the state Department for Immigration and Citizen Services.
“There have been a few issues around Nyayo House which we have been trying to deal with and most recently we were able to arrest some of the people who frustrate Kenyans trying to get passports in Nyayo House,” said the PS.
He said the crackdown on brokers frustrating Kenyans will be expanded to all passport centers in the country, adding that the government has made a lot of progress on digital Identification cards, and soon it will be unveiled.
The PS said the regulations will pave the way for the implementation of the Refugee Act No. 10 of 2021.
Chairman of the Delegated Legislation Committee Mr. Samuel Chepkonga who is also MP for Ainabkoi said the meeting deliberated on refugee management in camps.
“It’s very important on how we handle the refugees in the country because we are a very kind country and we are very hospitable also,” he said.
By Sadik Hassan
