Streamlined Rules to Tackle Passport Delays
Monday, Evelyn Cheluget, the acting director general of Immigration Services, announced that the department has implemented a slew of new measures to enhance the processing of Kenyan passports.
Cheluget, addressing immigration officers at Nyayo House, expressed optimism that the changes will improve the processing and issuance of travel documents and effectively resolve the protracted delays that have prompted public discontent.
Cheluget stated that beginning this week, the number of personnel will increase and some officers will be sent overseas.
In addition to emergency counters, day and night schedules will be implemented Monday through Sunday, and applications will be accepted from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Other solutions include obtaining new booklets and repairing and purchasing new machines that permit passport printing around-the-clock.
Chegulet stated, “We are working diligently, the passport section has been working in shifts, we have dedicated counters for urgent cases, and all regional directors are increasing staffing at the urgent counters.”
This comes amid a congestion that has Kenyans questioning why the Immigration Department takes so long to process passports, which should take between 10 and 15 days.
Friday, the Directorate of Immigration Services defended itself by noting that Nyayo House printed 96,310 passports between 13 July and 8 August 2023.
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The day shift personnel printed 53,750 of these documents, while the night shift personnel processed the remaining 42,560.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki issued a stern warning to the department, promising to finally clear up Nyayo House.
During his Thursday appearance before a parliamentary committee, Kindiki attributed the delays to corruption and vowed to find a solution.
“I will thoroughly tidy up Nyayo House. We will seal off Nyayo House and identify it as a crime scene. How do Kenyans wake up at 6:00 a.m.? Not everything will proceed as usual. Kindiki stated, “We must clean the Nyayo home.”
According to Kindiki, the backlog of passport applications is presently 58,000, with the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services processing approximately 5,000 passports per day.
In addition, he stated that plans are in the works to issue passports in seven days, with a reduction to three days and even twenty-four hours in an emergency.
Streamlined Rules to Tackle Passport Delays
