CS Kindiki on Passport Delays: “I will clean up Nyayo house once and for all”

Nyayo House is an active crime scene, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has declared.

Appearing before the Regional Integration Committee on Thursday, CS Kindiki made a resolute commitment to clean up the mess at the Immigration headquarters in Nairobi. He attributed the prolonged delays in passport issuance and processing to corrupt officials and said he is determined to eradicate these issues.

“I will clean up Nyayo house once and for all. We will seal off Nyayo house and name it a scene of crime. How do Kenyans cue from 6 a.m.? It won’t be business as usual. We must clean up Nyayo house,” Kindiki said.

The minister at the same informed the plenary committee that certain persistent issues in Kenya, such as insecurity and terrorism, can be attributed to corruption within Nyayo House.

“If you go to Wajir, 21-year-olds are waiting for IDs for 3 years now,” he noted.

CS Kindiki also disclosed that the current backlog for passports stands at 58,000, while the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services is processing around 5,000 passports each day.

He outlined that efforts are being made to implement a system where passports can be issued within 7 days. Moreover, he envisages a future where the processing time will be further reduced to 3 days, and in urgent cases, emergency issuance within 24 hours.

Regarding identity cards, CS Kithure explained that Kenyans currently have to wait for 21 days to receive their cards.

However, he said that in the near future, traditional ID cards will be replaced by a Digital Maisha number which will also serve as a Death Certificate number upon the individual’s demise.

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