State to dispose of 110,000 uncollected passports in six months

Kenyans have six months to pick up their 110,000 ready uncollected passports; otherwise, the Directorate of Immigration will dispose of them.

PS for the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services Julius Bitok revealed on Thursday that the move is intended to free up storage space at the Department.

"To free up limited storage space, applicants are notified that DIS will dispose of all uncollected passports six months from the date of this notice," he said in a notice dated July 31, 2024.

This is in line with Section 31 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act and Regulations, Disposal of Uncollected Goods Act (CAP 38), and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations on the delivery of travel documents.

Nairobi continues to lead with the highest number of uncollected passports at 55,5042, followed by Kisumu with 11,7073 and Embu (10,8164).

Mombasa has 8,6965 uncollected passports, Nakuru (8,6156), Eldoret (8,5517), Kisii (5,7198), Kericho (3,899) and Bungoma (62).

The PS has advised applicants yet to collect their passports to do so at the station where they submitted their application.

While appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Appointments on Thursday, Interior Cabinet Secretary nominee Kithure Kindiki stated that the ministry had completed the backlog for passports which was there since 2022 and resulted in a major crisis.

"Today we have not only paid pending bills to the suppliers, but we also have enough printing equipment for the personalisation of passports, we have even upscaled our ICT system and we have cleared the backlog from 784,000 and today there is no backlog," he said.

Kindiki also announced that the ministry would begin issuing passports within seven days from August 1. He added that this deadline had been met four weeks ago.

He further stated that the next goal is to reduce the passport waiting period to three days by November 1, 2024.