Gov't seeks to issue 1M passports as two new printing machines arrive at Nyayo House

The government now says it plans to double the number of passports issued this year to at least one million from the 533,000 produced last year.

This target, as revealed by Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok, is boosted by the arrival of two new printing machines at Nyayo House which are expected to churn out about 600 passports per hour.

The PS, who spoke on Friday in Mombasa during the annual planning meeting of senior managers for agencies and directorates under the State Department, said the new machines are also expected to cut the waiting time for passports to under 14 days.

“We will be commissioning the new printers next week. We are determined to render delays in the issuance of passports a thing of the past as we have secured the necessary resources to procure sufficient booklets and other recurrent expenses,” he said.

PS Bitok also revealed that, at the same time, the government is looking at issuing over 3 million identity cards within a similar period.

These, he noted, would be composed of 1.2 million digital national ID cards to first-time applicants, 1.6 million duplicate IDs, in addition to the 733,000 Maisha cards already issued.

He went on to state that the vetting of ID applicants in Northern Kenya and other border regions as a prerequisite for registration will cease from next month, as had been ordered by President William Ruto.

Bitok stated that the number of services accessible on the eCitizen platform are expected to rise from 16,000 to 20,000, pushing daily users to slightly over one million.

In turn, he noted, revenue generated from the platform is projected to shoot to a daily average of Ksh1 billion during the same period.

“We are continuously innovating and improving the user experience on eCitizen. We want as many clients as possible to enjoy the convenience that it provides so that we can also hit our targets of generating revenue for the government,” said the PS.

“We believe these are realistic targets based on the strategic improvements and investments that we have made to our vital personal registration and documentation systems.”

Also targeted for a major boost in generated revenue is the issuance of electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) after President Ruto’s Visa ban, with the government now hoping for at least 5 million visitors.