Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has said that the delay of the issuance of the 34-page passport will soon be over.
In a statement on Thursday, February 15, Mwaura indicated that the shortage was a result of a delay in supply of booklets which were being printed abroad.
According to spokesperson, the documents were usually printed abroad for security reasons. However, he noted that a consignment was already on its way into the country.
“The problem has persisted because of delayed supply of the 34-page passport booklets which normally goes for Ksh4,550.
“The shortage has been caused by slow delivery of the booklets by the supplier. The documents are usually printed outside the country for security reasons leaving only the applicant’s Bio-data page to be printed locally upon application,’ he said.
In the meantime, he asked those in urgent need of a passport to apply for the 50-page passports which he said were in plenty.
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Govt on Delay in Issuance of IDs
On the other hand, Mwaura said that the government was aware of the crisis in the issuance of Identity Cards across the country.
However, he stated that the government could not act on the matter until an appeal that led to the suspension of the production of the 3rd generation Identity Cards is granted.
“The Government is also aware of the problem of acquiring identity cards by eligible youths which has been caused by a court order suspending the production of the 3rd generation Identity Cards.
“An appeal has been made on the case. As we speak 600,000 applications for the cards are pending at the civil registration offices countrywide even as some other 684,000 IDs lie uncollected by the applicants across the country,” he said.
Mwaura explained that once that was done, the government would embark on massive production of IDs to clear the backlog within the shortest time possible.
“We appeal to those yet to collect their documents to do so, in order to avoid inconveniences in their official as well as private transactions,” he added.
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Passport Crisis at Nyayo House
Earlier in December 2023, the Immigration department addressed the delays in issuance of passports noting that they had resorted to fast-tracking emergency cases, particularly those requiring medical attention abroad.
However, other applicants lamented noting that some of them required the documents to seek educational opportunities.
This came three months after the Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki pledged to deal with the passport mess.
At that time, he attributed the delays to malfunctioning machines and printers, assuring the public that the situation would be rectified with the procurement of new equipment.
