The historical backlog in the processing of the Kenyan passport has been conclusively resolved, this is according to Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki.
CS Kindiki says that the bottlenecks that had resulted in frustration of many passport applicants in the country has also been addressed.
The government has so far acquired two additional passport printing machines and other equipment.
In addition, CS Kindiki says that the Kenya Kwanza administration has paid all the pending supplier bills, and addressed the supply chain constraints.
The backlog of pending passports stood at 724,000 by March 11, 2024, with CS Kindiki saying that the backlog has been resolved. Also, the 50,000 applications that were pending on Thursday, last week have been produced and are ready for delivery, he adds.
“Directed the Directorate of Immigration to embark on a Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) to expedite the collection of passports, and publish names of the applicants and the designated collection points by next week,” CS Kindiki says in a statement.
He has further tasked the Directorate of Immigration to develop a passport production and collection sustainability plan within this week, to ensure that there is no backlog reoccurrence.
“The Government reiterates its commitment yo ensure that effective 1st May, 2024, all applications for the Kenyan passport will be processed within 21 days from the date of application. This period will reduce to 7 days from 1st August, 2024 and 3 days from 1st September, 2024,” he adds.
