Civil Society Demands Removal of Interior Cabinet Secretary for Passport Printing Delays
Under the leadership of Linda Ugatuzi. Civil society organizations demand the removal of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki. Due to irregularities at Nyayo House that caused a delay in the printing of passports and other documents.
The societies, led by activist and political analyst Fred Ogola. Questioned the Immigration Department’s operations and demanded that the Interior CS shed light on the protracted crisis.
According to Ogola, the constant breakdown of the government printer resulted in massive job losses. And impacted Kenyans who sought opportunities abroad.
He questioned why the department was so deeply in debt. Yet only issued passports, work permits, and marriage certificates upon payment. He argued that the collected funds were sufficient to facilitate the Immigration Department’s operations.
Ogola cited a report by the Chief Executive Officer of the Government Printer, Abdi Hassan Ali. Presented on Thursday, June 15. Which detailed that government agencies including those in charge of the fertilizer subsidy and Huduma Namba projects owed it Ksh450 million.
“They are denying opportunities to Kenyans who travel outside the country. They claimed that they had not been paid Ksh450 million by various government agencies and are therefore broke.
“Now that BBI has been repealed, how will the printer collect the Ksh100 million that is owed?” he continued.
Simultaneously, they demanded an explanation from Kindiki regarding allegations that certain Nyayo House employees demanded bribes to expedite passport processing.
These allegations contradicted the Department of Immigration’s statement, which claimed that the delay was due to a printer malfunction.
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Officials at Nyayo House are demanding bribes of up to Ksh20,000 to expedite the issuance of passports, despite claiming that the printers are inoperable, according to Ogola.
The lobbying groups urged the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate Nyayo House and arrest those responsible for the racket.
The Immigration Department notified Kenyans on June 6 about a technical issue with the printing machine and the resulting delays in the procurement of necessary materials.
The department assured the public that they were diligently working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
A portion of the statement read, “Our staff is working around the clock to restore normal services and clear the backlog of pending passport applications as soon as possible.”
Concurrently, the Commission on Administrative Justice, also known as the Ombudsman, confirmed that applicants have complained of being overcharged before the processing of their travel documents.
It also raised concerns regarding the lack of appropriate mechanisms to automate the refund of excess payments made by passport applicants.
“All complaints alleging overcharging of passport fees were found to be true while the Department of Immigration’s allegation that the complainants edited their application to a lower series was found to be false,” Ombudsman noted.
The report followed Kindiki’s May 31 announcement that passports of Kenyans with urgent travel needs would be processed within 24 hours and the backlog would be cleared in 21 days.
Civil Society Demands Removal of Interior Cabinet Secretary for Passport Printing Delays
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