The Department of Immigration has introduced a series of new measures aimed at expediting the longstanding issue of delays in the processing of Kenyan passports.
Acting Director General of Immigration Services Evelyn Cheluget on Monday expressed confidence that the new changes will enhance the efficiency of processing and distributing travel documents.
While addressing immigration officers at Nyayo House, Chelugut directed that starting this week, the workforce will be expanded, and certain officers will be assigned to overseas postings.
Additionally, designated counters will be allocated to handle urgent cases, and a schedule involving day and night shifts from Monday to Sunday will be implemented.
Passport applications will also now be accepted from 7:00 am to 8:30 pm.
Other additional measures involve obtaining new booklets, as well as repairing and procuring new machines capable of enabling round-the-clock passport printing.
“We are working hard, the passport section has been working on shifts, we have dedicated counters for urgent cases and all regional heads to boost staff in the urgent counters,” said Chegulet.
This comes as Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki announced that the government plans to lease high-capacity passport printing machines from private investors to help clear a huge backlog due to faulty machines.
“Their capital cost is very high and we will have to rely on some private sector funding through leasing without compromising on security,” Kindiki told Parliament.
“We will manage the equipment once it is delivered. Private investors will only provide the equipment and we will enter into a lease-to-own arrangement or leases with specific timelines as is the case with leased medical equipment,” he added.
“The private investors can recoup their investment over time. So we will ensure that we take care of our national security without again being unable to provide the service because the resources required to transform Kenya’s issuance of security documents to meet world standards are huge.”
