Kenyans can expect the Interior Ministry to speed up the passport printing process to less than a month beginning June this year, Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok has revealed.
Speaking on Sunday, the PS revealed that President William Ruto had called him and directed him to work with Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro in actualising the goal within three months.
He noted that the President, who held phone conversations with Nyoro, had asked the lawmaker who serves as the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee in the National Assembly to unlock funding aimed at speeding up the process.
"His Excellency the President called me and told me that we need to solve the passport problem. He asked me to look for Ndindi Nyoro whom he had called to furnish me with enough cash," he told the congregation.
"I declare that in partnership with Ndindi Nyoro, the issue of passport printing will be solved and everyone will get their passports within 1 month after application."
Bitok further noted that the Head of State's directive was motivated by his goal of sending over 500,000 Kenyans to work abroad.
"The President told me that he targets to send 500,000 people to work abroad in places like Australia, Germany, and the USA. That is our programme for labour migration," he added.
If actualised, the faster passport printing process will be a relief to Kenyan travellers, some of whom had been forced to wait for more than a year for the crucial document.
The declaration comes days after the PS asked Kenyans to collect pending passports totalling 58,000 stuck at various immigration offices across the country.
On March 5, Bitok explained that the department had intensified its operations and that affected individuals should pick up their passports to make room for new ones.
According to Bitok, there are 58,330 passports in the backlog, with Nairobi leading with 24,613, followed by Embu with 9,584.
Others include Kisumu (6,087), Mombasa (5,759), Eldoret (4,538), Nakuru (4,466), and Kisii (3,283).
At the beginning of February, Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura revealed that delays in passport production had been caused by the failure of printing machines. New ones have since been acquired.
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