Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Bitok has said that the backlog on processing passports will be cleared in two weeks.

Speaking in Mombasa during a meeting on the National Assembly Committee on Delegated Legislation, Bitok said that the department is now processing 3,600 passports daily.

“We have managed to reduce the backlog of around 100,000 passports to around 45,000. We are projecting that in the next two weeks, there will be no backlog.”

 Further, he said that with the arrival of new printers and the implementation of the proposed private-public-partnership, passports' waiting period will be reduced to within a week and eventually lead to express services.

“We have ordered new printers and enough booklets for Kenyans. Going forward, applying and getting passports will take seven days. We believe it will be possible to get passports within three days."

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Furthermore, the CS said the crackdown on passport brokers at Nyayo House to other regional immigration offices in the country.

“The crackdown that is around Nyayo house will be extended to other cities and towns like Mombasa, Kisumu, Kisii, and many other places where there are complaints from Kenyans that are not able to get services because they’re people who are suspected to be abetting corruption.”

To add to that, Bitok said that the government was determined to rid Nyayo House of conmen and middlemen suspected of working with Immigration officers to extort bribes from applicants seeking passports and other services.

“Besides Immigration Services, Nyayo House hosts many other government offices… I want to assure Kenyans that we are going to make Nyayo House a place where you can expect to be served diligently without having to know anyone or parting with bribes.”

On Friday, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives arrested four men inside Nyayo House for soliciting bribes.

The suspects’ phones were confiscated as the officers sought evidence to support prosecution for defrauding unsuspecting applicants.