Kenyans To Get Passports In 3 Days- Kindiki Declares End Of Backlog

Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki has announced that the historic backlog in the processing of Kenyan passports has been resolved conclusively and that the bottlenecks that had resulted in the frustration of many applicants have been addressed. 

In a statement, the CS announced on Monday, April 22 that the government has facilitated the acquisition of adequate passport printing equipment, paid all the pending supplier bills, and addressed the supply chain constraints. 

He further noted that the backlog of pending passports which stood at 724,000 by March 11, 2024, has been resolved, and the 50,000 applications that were pending on Thursday last week have been produced and are ready for delivery. 

Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki speaking at Nyayo House on April 22, 2024. /KITHURE KINDIKI

"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. 

"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," he stated in part.

According to the CS, the government reiterated its commitment to ensure that effective May 1, 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 November 2024," he added.

The CS was at Nyayo House in Nairobi to inspect the new passport printing equipment and was taken through the production process.

He also interacted with passport applicants to assess their experience with the reforms initiated at the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services.

On Friday, April 12, the government announced the acquisition of two new machines enabling Kenyans to acquire passports within 14 working days from the date of their application.

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary, Prof. Julius Bitok in a statement announced that the government intends to print at least one million passports in 2024.

He noted that the new passports target is nearly double the 533,000 issued in the previous year with the higher output pegged on the combined printing capacity of 600 passports per hour by the new machines.

A photo of processed passports as taken on April 22, 2024. /KITHURE KINDIKI