• The government previously printed about 2,000 booklets daily, says Immigration PS
• But the number of applicants has been increasing, causing challenges in processing
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
The government will print more than 5,000 passport books daily to address delays in the issuing of the travelling document.
Immigration PS Julius Bitok says previously, they had been printing about 2,000 booklets daily, but the number of applicants for the documents had been increasing faster, causing processing challenges.
“We have now rectified the situation and as from July, we will be printing 5,000 booklets daily so that applicants can receive the documents within the shortest time possible,” Bitok said.
Bitok was speaking when he visited offices for immigration and registration of persons in Uasin Gishu county.
He said the regional offices would be staffed and equipped to quickly process passports and IDs.
Two weeks ago, the government received more than 100,000 passport printing booklets ordered from abroad.
“We all know there have been delays in the issuance of passports because our stocks were very low, but we have now received more booklets to ease the process,” Bitok said.
He said Kenyans who applied for the passports will get the documents shortly.
“More than 20,000 Kenyans who have applied for passports can now pick them because we are expecting another 100,000 booklets by end-month,” Bitok said.
The government is also discussing with suppliers the possibility of having a Public Private Partnership arrangement to avoid having to import booklets from abroad.
The plan is to have the booklets printed locally.
Bitok said producing the passports locally would help to ensure that the cost of production is cheaper, and the benefits will be passed down to the people who will pay less for the passports.
“The current price of a passport is Sh4,500, and the cost of producing the passport is almost the same. We will negotiate to reduce the cost within the PPP arrangement,” Bitok said.
He said the cost of the passport is high because of the security checks it has to go through, which is a requirement.
Bitok added that all Kenyans would be issued with a Unique Personal Identifier number to replace the earlier plan for Huduma numbers.
The UPI he said would be issued to every child at birth while Kenyans with IDs would have the ID numbers converted into UPIs.
“This number will be used by every Kenyan to access all types of government services, right from healthcare, education and in all aspects,” Bitok said.