•'As of April 30, 2024 the immigration said passport collection backlog was more than 700,000.
•CS Kindiki said that 684,500 passports have already been collected by their owners.
Image: MINA
A three-month printer breakdown, crackdown on the corruption cartels at the immigration office and increased passport prices last year, saw the number of passports issued drop by 5.2 per cent.
The 2024 Economic Survey data show that the immigration department issued 404,028 passports representing a decrease of 5.2 per cent in the period under review.
Despite the drop in overall issuance, passports processed and issued to males increased by 3.6 per cent while passports processed and issued to females decreased by 12.2 per cent.
As of April 30, 2024 the immigration said passport collection backlog was more than 700,000.
The survey further revealed that in the period under review, there was an increase in the number of foreign nationals registered from 7,963 in 2022 to 9,179 in 2023.
‘The number of registered foreign nationals increased by 62.2 per cent to 37, 603 in the same period,” reads the survey in part.
Work permits issued and work permits renewed increased by 15.3 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively, over the same period.
The number of applications made for National Identity Cards increased from 1.21 million in 2022 to 1.28 million in 2023.
The population of refugees and asylum seekers grew from 573,508 in 2022 to 691,868 in 2023
The number of work permits issued increased from 7,963 to 9,179 with a higher percentage increase being recorded among the males at 16.9 per cent to 7,135.
Renewed work permits increased by 9.7 per cent to 12,800 in 2023.
Last week Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said that all 724,000 passports that were part of the historical backlog have been printed.
The passports had accumulated between June 2021 and March 2024.
CS Kindiki said that 684,500 passports have already been collected by their owners.
“It took a bit of time to get exchequer funding, pay pending supplier debts, dismantle the corruption cartels, and acquire and install modern, high capacity printing equipment,” he said.