The Kenyan government through the Interior Ministry on Wednesday, April 5, announced plans to privatise the printing of passports.
In a press statement, the Interior Ministry, through Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Bitok, explained that it was one of the ways to streamline the Immigration Department.
The announcement was made hours after the government received 100,000 passport printing booklets.
“We are in talks with investors for Public-Private Partnerships (PPT) so that we can manufacture and print these documents here in Kenya,” Bitok revealed.
Manufacturing and printing of the booklets in Kenya will reduce the waiting time for passports in the country which had earlier caused an uproar among Kenyans.
“As a government, we are looking for the possibility of investing in local manufacturing of passports for faster and comparatively cheaper supplies,” he added
The PS further noted that the state had revised downwards the waiting time of about 60,000 individuals who are waiting for their passports applications to be processed.
“Over sixty thousand applicants who have been waiting for Kenyan passports will now receive them within three weeks,” the statement read in part.
Those who had made earlier applications for passports were warned of making changes to their submissions.
“The production of 15,358 A series, 10,045 and 37,810 B and C series passports respectively that have been queued due to booklets shortage will now be cleared.
“The new stock will adequately cover all passport series and there is, therefore, no need for applicants to revise their preferred choices,” he explained.
Going forward, Kenyans will be getting their passports three weeks after successfully submitting an application.
"It will take you 21 days to receive your passport if you apply on the e-Citizen platform", the PS assured Kenyans.
On November 29, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki announced that the ministry needed Ksh150 million from the treasury to buy a new passport printing machine.
