70,000 passports ready for collection, State announces

The government has announced there are 70,000 uncollected passports and urged Kenyans to pick them.

Government Spokesman Isaac Mwaura has said there are also 100,000 passports currently being printed.

He also announced the arrival of two new passport printing machines by the end of February 2024,

This comes after the government acknowledged that they are currently facing challenges in the issuance of passports to applicants due to occasional breakdowns of machines used by the Immigration Services at Nyayo House.

In September 2023, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki announced plans to address machine breakdowns and eliminate delays in passport processing.

He attributed the backlog to poor printing equipment, insufficient investment, and corruption, noting that these issues were being addressed.

The CS disclosed the existence of a backlog of slightly over 58,000 passport applications, with a printing capacity of about 5,000 passports daily.

He also said the government would reduce the time taken to acquire a Kenyan passport.

Kindiki directed the processing of 42,000 pending passport applications within 21 days, eventually reducing the processing time to seven days.

Frustration

However, despite these assurances, delays have persisted, leading to renewed frustration among applicants.

The selective approach has raised concerns among the affected individuals who now grapple with the anticipation of a resolution to their travel document predicament.

Kenyans have been raising concerns over the delayed issuance of passports saying they are unable to apply for jobs due to lack of passports.

Students have also been unable to acquire scholarships abroad due to the delay.

In response to public outcry, the government provided an update last week, confirming the acquisition of new passport machines.

“We have been having a problem because of the machine breakdown. There are new machines that have been procured and Interior CS Kindiki will be launching the machines soon. However, Kenyans have no cause to worry. The demand for passports is extremely high and the backlog is also high,” Mwaura said.

Mwaura noted that similar challenges are being witnessed at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters as Kenyans seek to apply for the Certificate of Good Conduct.

For the police clearance document, he said there has been a shortage in the supply of the printing material.

“The demand of Good Conduct is 2,000 copies per day against a backlog of 700,000. For passports, it has been a crisis but there are new books and we hope we can get to use the new machines and be able to rectify the challenges being experienced at Nyayo House,” he said.