Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was on Saturday cornered in a meeting in Rwanda where he is on a state visit since Friday and forced to expound on issues causing passport delay.
According to reports, the meeting that was between him and Kenyans living in Rwanda during an interactive section said that delay in passport issuance was being caused by lack of efficient equipments.
“We have an issue as students who applied for passports back in Kenya, I for example applied in September last year but I have been surviving with a permit and with this I can not get a visa exceeding three months.”
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However the DP said that the government will within 45 days have procured a new printer which will see the number of passports double making the issuance efficient.
Gachagua also promised that students will be given priority in the issuance of passports to ensure timely processing of their visa to avoid inconveniences in their studies.
The delays have also been, according to Gachagua been brought by the government’s commitment to produce a fullproof passports due to the increase in cybercrime both within Kenya and globally hence the delays in issuance.
“We need new equipment to achieve this, we have been having a problem with the current equipment which keeps breaking down so there has been a delay.”
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This comes just days after Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok announced that the government has installed two fully equipped halls at Nyayo House to expedite the processing of passports.
According to Bitok, the government increased the number of biometric desks from 10 to 20 to ensure faster processing of passports and urged Kenyans to collect their finished passports to clear the backlog.