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Kenyans to wait longer as technical glitches disrupt passport services

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki inspecting a passport printing machine on April 22, 2024. (X/Kithure Kindiki)

By Lucy Mumbi | 30 Apr 2024

This comes barely a week after Kindiki announced the acquisition of new printing machines which would address the delay of passport issuance.

The State Department of Immigration has announced a temporary suspension of normal passport operations due to system failures.

In a notice on Monday, the downtime affects applications, receiving and collection services. The department said affected applicants will be provided alternative dates soon.

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"We regret to inform our clients that we are experiencing a downtime that has affected our normal passport application, receiving and collection services. Our engineers are working to resolve the issue and ensure the resumption of normal services as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience caused," read the notice.

This comes barely a week after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki announced the acquisition of new printing machines that would address the delay of passport issuance.

Kindiki had said that passport applications would take three days to be processed from September 1, 2024.

Before then, the CS had said Kenyans would from May 1, have their passport applications processed within three weeks, adding that the days will reduce as time goes by.

"The government reiterates its commitment to ensure that effective May 1, 2024, all applications for the Kenyan passport will be processed within 21 days from the date of application," he said.

"This period will reduce to seven days from August 1, 2024 and three days from September 1, 2024."

NYAYO HOUSE, NAIROBI, KENYA
MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2024

The historical backlog in the processing of the Kenyan passport has been conclusively resolved and the bottlenecks that had resulted in frustration of many applicants addressed.

The Government has facilitated the acquisition… pic.twitter.com/sWYJsshk2k
— Kithure Kindiki (@KindikiKithure) April 22, 2024

Additionally, the CS said the government had paid all the pending supplier bills and addressed the supply chain constraints.

He noted that the backlog of passports which stood at 724,000 by March 11, has been effectively reduced by a huge margin.

"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," he said.

The CS directed the Directorate of Immigration to develop a passport production and collection sustainability plan to ensure there is no backlog reoccurrence.

However, despite recent upgrades and payments of all pending supplier bills, public dissatisfaction persists, with many Kenyans reporting significant delays in receiving their passports.

Ann Jackie, an X user, appealed for help saying, "Since August last year, I have not received my passport. I already went to Nyayo House over 10 times, lost my scholarship because of the delays and up to now, it's still not ready."

Another user, Jahim Maina, added; "I applied for a passport last year but until now there has been no progress."

"It's a shame that since June 2023, I have not received my passport yet there are people for January 2024 receiving their passport. I have even been told to upgrade my passport for the second time. What happened to the first upgrade? And who is holding my passport," Njeri Mukami decried.

In March, at least 17 officers in the Immigration Department were arrested and charged in renewed efforts to dismantle cartels' frustrating reforms in passport processing and issuance.

Kindiki said the 17 officers were arrested in a crackdown following an intelligence-led investigation.

“Detectives are also zeroing in on more culprits in a renewed push to dismantle the complex cartel that has long frustrated the reform efforts at Nyayo House and other immigration offices across the country,” he said.

He acknowledged that the number of Kenyans seeking to acquire passports continues to surge driven by the government's labour export policy.