Kindiki - We can now produce over 10,000 passports daily

Interior CS Prof Kithure Kindiki has announced that Kenya's passport production capacity has soared to over 10,000 passports within 24 hours.

"We now have the capability to produce over 10,000 passports in a day, doubling our daily demand of approximately 5,000 passports," Kindiki revealed.

This significant enhancement is attributed to the acquisition of two new printers, each capable of producing 300 passports per hour.

With both printers operational, the Immigration Department can now generate 600 passports per hour, amounting to 4,800 passports over an eight-hour workday.

Moreover, should the printers operate continuously for 24 hours, the potential output could reach approximately 14,000 passports.

This development comes as a relief to the numerous Kenyans who apply for passports daily, especially considering that the old printer could only produce 1,000 passports within eight hours.

The government has been diligently addressing the passport backlog issues that Kenyans have faced in recent years.

Under CS Kindiki's leadership, critical reforms have been implemented within the Immigration and Citizen Services department, with plans to expedite the passport acquisition process.

In a recent announcement, the CS declared that starting from May 1, the passport processing time would be reduced to 21 days from the date of application. Furthermore, this period is slated to decrease further to just three days starting September 1, 2024.

Kindiki emphasized that the government has resolved the underlying issues causing delays in passport processing.

"The historical backlog in the processing of the Kenyan passport has been conclusively resolved, and the bottlenecks that had frustrated many applicants have been addressed," the CS affirmed.

He highlighted the government's efforts, including procuring adequate passport printing equipment, settling all outstanding supplier bills, and resolving supply chain constraints.

Notably, the backlog of pending passports, which had reached 724,000 by March 11, has been significantly reduced to less than 50,000.