The Ministry of Interior has announced that there are at least 70,629 passports ready for collection across Kenya.
These passports include both newly issued ones and some from the backlog. The Directorate of Immigration headquarters and regional offices were dealing with a backlog of 87,454 passports that had not been collected.
Interior Ministry PS Julius Bitok stated that they have been actively working to clear the backlog, and a list scheduling the collection of passports for the following week is regularly posted on the Directorate of Immigration’s official Twitter account, @ImmigrationDept, during the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) period every Wednesday.
The RRI was launched by Interior CS Kithure Kindiki on September 25, 2023, as a 30-day initiative to address the backlog. As of October 20, 2023, a total of 60,567 passports from the backlog had already been collected.
Despite the ongoing RRI exercise, the Interior Ministry disclosed that new passport applications are still being processed. Since the launch of the RRI, an additional 43,742 new passports have been printed.
For the 70,629 passports ready for collection nationwide, applicants are encouraged to monitor the status of their passports on the eCitizen portal and the Directorate of Immigration’s official communication channels.
CS Kindiki emphasized the government’s commitment to enhancing efficiency in the Directorate of Immigration to ensure the swift delivery of services.
The Kindiki-led ministry has announced that passport collection will take place at immigration regional offices from October 23 to Friday, October 27, 2023. Nairobi’s Nyayo House will have 7,500 passports ready for collection, while there will be 1,725 in Eldoret, 1,771 in Embu, and 1,501 in Kisii. In Nakuru, 1,002 passports are ready for collection, and 1,547 have been printed and are awaiting collection in Mombasa. In Kisumu, 1,262 passports will be ready for collection next week.
