Omollo: Passport wait time drops from six months to 72 hours

Principal Secretary for Ministry of Interior and National Administration Raymond Omollo [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

Kenya has cut passport processing time from more than six months to 72 hours and recruited 10,000 police officers, Internal Security Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo has said.

The improvements were outlined during the 13th meeting of the Governance and Public Administration Sub-Committee of the National Development Implementation Committee on Friday, December 5, chaired by Omollo.

He said the government also trained nearly 6,000 chiefs and assistant chiefs in the largest such exercise under the Kenya Kwanza administration.

“Passport processing times have now dropped from over six months to just 72 hours, which is a continental benchmark in service delivery efficiency,” Omollo told the meeting.

Kenya on boarded 22,510 government services from 583 agencies onto the e-Citizen digital platform, the committee noted.

Somalia formally joined the East African Community as the eighth member, expanding regional markets and strengthening security cooperation across the bloc.

Diaspora remittances surpassed 660 billion shillings and are on track to hit one trillion shillings, supported by stronger investment facilitation.

The government secured more than 400,000 safe overseas job placements through bilateral labour agreements.

The committee reviewed 19 Cabinet decisions and found 11 per cent fully completed, with the rest at advanced stages. Coordination gaps, funding delays and legal challenges have slowed some actions.

Solicitor General Shadrack Mose reported a rise in petitions challenging government legislation. Since 2022, 60 cases have been filed, most tied to gaps in public participation.

“The team urged ministries, departments and agencies to ensure strict compliance with constitutional requirements to safeguard priority programmes,” Omollo noted.

Major projects near completion include the East Africa Kidney Institute at 99 per cent and Kenya Defence Forces-led projects including stadiums, hospitals and 13 schools in Kerio Valley.

Between January and August, Kenya hosted seven inbound and conducted 15 outbound state visits aimed at advancing economic partnerships and global advocacy.

The engagements yielded 19.5 billion shillings in Special Economic Zone investments from China projected to create 5,000 jobs, 12 memorandums of understanding with Egypt covering ports, information and communications technology, gender, youth and investment promotion, and agreements with Angola that restored direct flights between Nairobi and Luanda.

Principal Secretaries from immigration and citizen services, correctional services, devolution, national government coordination, science, research and innovation, East African Community affairs and justice attended the meeting.