Members of Parliament on Wednesday, May 15, requested that the Ministry of Interior through the State Department of Immigration issue Kenyans with passports within three days after successful application.
The MPs made the request through the National Assembly’s Committee on National Administration and Internal Security during the presentation of the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services' budget estimates for the 2024/25 Financial Year and supplementary estimates for FY 2023/24.
“With adequate resourcing, targeting a maximum of three days for applicants to be issued with passports is realistic,” Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo who chairs the committee stated.
Parliamentarians further recommended decentralisation of passport application adding that there were few centres across the country.
Currently, Kenyans can only apply for passports in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Embu, Nakuru, Kisii and Eldoret.
Going forward, the MPs asked the Immigration State Department to open more application centres across the country to ease the process.
Representing their electorate, the legislators told the Immigration Principal Secretary that Kenyans incurred huge costs travelling to Nyayo in Nairobi or the other few immigration centres across the country.
While mindful of the need to reduce passport waiting time, the MPs lauded the Kithure Kindiki-led ministry for streamlining the sector.
In particular, they appreciated that in a record one month, the ministry had cleared a 700,000 passport backlog going way back to 2021.
Additionally, the system has been streamlined and new equipment acquired which has eliminated the long queue that had become synonymous with Nyayo Immigration Headquarters.
PS Bitok revealed that this had been possible through the help of the National Assembly approving a budget for creating two banking halls, buying two printers, and increasing personnel.
CS Kindiki had earlier promised to reduce the passport waiting time to 7 days but this could be halved should parliament’s recommendations be put into consideration.
