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State to print 600 passports per hour after buying more machines

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki commissions a new passport printer at Nyayo House in Nairobi, which houses the Department of Immigration, on April 22, 2024. (Photo: Interior ministry)

By Maureen Kinyanjui | 22 Apr 2024

The Interior ministry's goal is to double the number of passports issued in 2024 to at least one million, up from last year's 533,000.

The government is set to print 600 passports per hour after purchasing two additional printing machines, in an effort to end long delays in the issuance of the travel document.

Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said this will "align with the Interior ministry's goal of doubling the number of passports issued in 2024 to at least one million, up from 533,000 in 2023".

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Speaking on Monday, he said that the newly commissioned printers are anticipated to significantly decrease passport wait times, a problem that has left numerous individuals stranded while seeking employment, education, business opportunities, and healthcare services.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki looks at a newly-issued passport during an impromptu tour of Nyayo House in Nairobi, which houses the Department of Immigration, on April 22, 2024. (Photo: Interior ministry)

Speaking during an impromptu tour of Nyayo House in Nairobi, Kindiki pointed out that the Directorate of Immigration Services receives at least 5,000 passport applications daily.

With the two new printers, the department can now produce approximately 250 to 300 passports per hour, with its capacity per eight-hour workday extending to 5,600 and the capacity every 24 hours reaching at least 10,000.

Kindiki further announced that the government will this week issue a schedule for the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI), which includes publishing the names of 50,000 passport applicants who need to collect their documents.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki addresses the press following an impromptu tour of Nyayo House in Nairobi, which houses the Department of Immigration, on April 22, 2024. (Photo: Interior ministry)

The CS has also directed the Immigration Department to develop a sustainable plan to ensure the backlog does not recur.

Last week, the CS announced that all applicants for the Kenyan passport will receive them within 21 days, starting May 1, 2024.

He added, "This period will be reduced to seven days effective August 1, 2024, and to three days effective November 1, 2024."

The CS also announced that the directorate had cleared 674,000 passports in 38 days.

"All the bottlenecks have now been comprehensively addressed. The backlog of pending passports that stood at 724,000 by March 11, 2024, has now been brought to below 50,000," Kindiki stated.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki addresses passport applicants at Nyayo House in Nairobi, which houses the Department of Immigration, on April 22, 2024. (Photo: Interior ministry)

Among the key issues addressed, as highlighted by Kindiki, are underfunding, corruption, disruption of the passport booklet raw material supply chain globally, the dilapidated printing infrastructure for the personalisation of passport booklets, and delivery inefficiencies.

The CS attributed the surge in passport applications to the government's labour export policy but assured that adequate infrastructural, systemic, and personnel arrangements had been put in place to ensure timely service delivery.