• Department says many applicants have no plans to travel but just applying for fun.
• So far one million e-passports issued since 2017.
Image: ENOS TECHE
The Immigration department has said it will not issue passports to Kenyans with no plans to travel.
PS Gordon Kihalangwa on Monday said it is unfortunate many Kenyans who are flocking to application centres have no plans to travel, but are applying for fun.
He said the department has resolved to give priority to those seeking renewal of the machine readable passports ahead of the September 1 deadline.
“We started issuing the e-passports in September 2017 and made a notice that those with the machine readable passports should renew them by September 2019,” he said.
Kihalangwa said so far 0ne million e-passports have been issued.
We have however witnessed an influx of applications in the recent days. We see long queues at our Nyayo application centre with some people waking up as early as 4am,” he said.
He added, “It has come to our attention that majority of the applicants have no plans to travel but (apply) just for fun. Going forward with regards to the deadline we shall give priority to only those with machine readable passports.”
He said the rest though have a constitutional right to have a passport, can apply at their leisure time instead of creating traffic.
He said students traveling abroad, Muslim faithful going for Hajj and state officers travelling for official duties will also be given priority but must produce supporting documents.
“Instead of flocking at Nyanyo house we have other centres in Kisii, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nakuru, Embu and Mombasa so let’s have some people seeking services there to decongest Nyayo,” he said.
He said the department will review the instructions at the lapse of nine weeks.
“We do not expect people who come and apply for passports for fun, because we will not issue them neither shall we attend to their forms, “ he said.
Last week, the department was forced to clarify on the September 1 deadline.
It said contrary to the narrative, the E-passport will continue being issued even past the deadline.
The government started the issuance of the E-passport in September 2017 and gave a two-year period for those who have the machine-readable (old) passports to renew them, after which they will become invalid.