State to acquire two passport printers to clear backlog

Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok. [David Gichuru, Standard]

The government has said that it has made remarkable progress in clearing passports backlog.

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok announced that the government is expecting two more passport printers next week.

This, the PS said will ensure faster processing of passports that has been a nightmare for many Kenyans seeking to acquire the document.

" We have been working day and night for the last two months such that now everybody is able to get their passports very fast," Bitok said.

He spoke Wednesday during the National Border Management Conference in Nairobi organised by the Ministry of Interior on how to improve security at border points.

Recently, the government announced that it had received more than 100,000 passport printing booklets to ease backlog.

Bito announced that the government will, in the next two weeks, receive 100,000 more booklets to further reduce the backlog.

On electronic visa, he said the government has been able to receive more than 350,000 visitors in the last three months.

"People coming in now are very happy that they are able to come in very seamlessly, in a very simple way and we're able to collect their details in advance even before they come in," he said.

He attributed the increase in number of visitors coming to Kenya to the efficiency of the digital identification of cross-border travelers which he, said represents a 40 per cent growth.

"We have people traveling for school, people traveling for leisure and for many other reasons. We are able to facilitate them without any problem," the PS said.