NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 21 — The government has admitted the slow pace of passport reforms blaming the situation on supply chain limitations exploited by corrupt officials.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki told lawmakers on Thursday that vendors supplying passport booklets could not meet Kenya’s demand for 3 million passport booklets every quarter, only supplying 1.5 million.
He attributed the situation to challenges in the accessibility of raw materials by the vendors and compliance with international quality control requirements.
Kindiki further noted a surge in passport applications fueled by a quest for jobs abroad had compounded the situation, driving the backlog to 1,724,000.
“Other new set of affairs which are beyond our scope have led to the backlog. The company involved in the production of the booklets cannot speedily meet our demand to avert the situation,” Kindiki explained.
“We are doing our best, we now have money and people to do printing but the magnitude of this mess can only be solved within a few months,” Kindiki told the National Assembly’s Regional Integration Committee.
The CS however said he had instructed the National Intelligence Service to investigate possible vendor wars on the publication and printing of the passport booklets.
Sustained reforms
Kindiki announced the planned rollout of additional crowd control measures at Nyayo House, the Immigration Department’s core hub, terming the current situation as unfavorable to the country’s image.
He said it was unfair for Kenyans to camp for days on end awaiting passports given the current passport publication crisis even as he emphasized the right of every Kenyan to obtain essential citizenship documents.
“It’s already disrespectful to Kenyans to make them come and crowd at Nyayo House. We will find a way of stopping it by next week somehow,” he noted.
Kindiki affirmed his commitment to an ongoing crackdown on corrupt officials at Nyayo House exploiting supply glitches to demand bribes.
He singled out the arrest of seventeen officials on bribery allegations, the transfer of procurement officers, and the impending transfer of security officials at the installation among key administrative interventions.
“We are not yet there when it comes to dealing with corruption and in the next ten days we will transfer the security officers before investigation as part of good practice,” he said.