President Uhuru Kenyatta, on Thursday, issued a directive extending the issuance of e-passports from August 31, 2019, to March 1, 2020.
A statement signed by Government Spokesperson Cyrus Oguna, the president directed Cabinet Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, Monica Juma, and Interior, Fred Matiang'i to facilitate the exercise.
This extension means that Kenyans can continue to travel abroad on their old blue ones.
"His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta has today directed the cabinet secretaries for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Monica Juma and Ministry of Interior and Coordination of the National Government, Dr Fred Matiang'i to work with foreign missions across the world to facilitate the issuance of visas to Kenyans on the current passports.
"Kenyans can, therefore, travel on their current (old blue) passports until March 1, 2020," read the statement in part.
Oguna hence advised Kenyans to take advantage of the extension and not wait until the last minute to apply.
In December 2018, DP William Ruto had called for the extension of the deadline to 2020 arguing that the deadline was approaching but very few people had been issued the document.
Only 400,000 passport holders out of over 2.5 million Kenyans had managed to replace their travel documents.
“The deadline is soon approaching and only a small fraction has managed to upgrade their passports to the new e-passport. The backlog at the immigration will not allow us to achieve this,” stated Ruto at the time.
Kenyans in the diaspora can apply for a new passport in London in UK, Paris in France, Washington DC in USA, Pretoria in South Africa, Dubai in UAE and Berlin in Germany.
