Kenyans With Emergency To Be Given Passports On The Spot, Kindiki Announces

Kenyans with emergency situations that need immediate travels outside the country will now be able to get their passports issued immediately.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki announced new changes in passports issuance which will see the days of issuance reduced to 3 by the end of the year.

“Going forward, all new applicants will receive their passports within 21 days from the date of application, while urgent cases will receive theirs immediately. Effective August 1, 2024, the waiting period will be reduced to 7 days and further to 3 days effective November 1, 2024.” Kindiki said on Monday.

Kindiki attributed the traditional delays to poor equipment and lengthy processes in acquiring effective printing machines which have been recently acquired by the ministry easing the restrictions.

“It took a bit of time to get exchequer funding, pay pending supplier debts, dismantle the corruption cartels, and acquire and install modern, high capacity printing equipment.”

Backlog cleared

Kindiki added that the backlog of passports that led to public outrage has since been cleared saying only a small portion is yet to be processed.

“All 724,000 passports that were part of the historical backlog that had accumulated between June 2021 and March 2024 have now been printed, and 684,500 of them already collected by their holders.”

The CS today gave an impromptu visit to Nyayo House, where he held a service delivery efficiency review meeting, inspected the production, registry, and archival facilities, and had an interaction with passport applicants to pick new ideas on improvement areas.