Interior ministry invites public participation on new ID, passport charges

In a public notice on Monday, Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok announced that the participants will be allowed to make their proposals and submit them in writing through memoranda clearly marked 'Public Participation on New Charges'. 

The submissions can be delivered at Nyayo House, Ground floor in Nairobi, offices belonging to Regional Commissioners, County Commissioners, or Deputy County Commissioners.

Participants can also email their submissions to info.ctizenservices@interior.go.ke on or before December 8, 2023, at 5 pm.

This comes a week after the government revoked a Gazette Notice issued on November 7, 2023, that announced an increase in charges for some services including passport, ID, work permits, birth and death certificate applications to allow for public participation on the matter.

Following the withdrawal of the Gazette Notice, the Interior CS Kithure Kindiki gazetted new intended charges for the same services.

The government had intended to increase the fee for first-time ID applications to Ksh.1,000 but has now reviewed the cost downward to Ksh.300.

The fee for replacement of lost IDs has also been reviewed to Ksh.1,000 instead of the intended Ksh.2,000.

The fee for application of the standard 34-page passport has been set at Ksh.7,500 from the current Ksh.4,500.

A 50-page ordinary passport will also cost applicants Ksh.9,500 from the existing Ksh.6,000 while the application fee for a 66-page ordinary passport will rise by Ksh.5,000 to cost Ksh.12,500.

New birth certificate applications will also cost Ksh.200 from Ksh.50. Application fees for death certificates have also quadrupled to Ksh.200.

The High Court had suspended the revoked notice with yet another petition against the revision of the charges filed on Tuesday.

Amid uproar from Kenyans, the Interior Ministry argued that the revised charges are informed by the increase in the cost of respective services over the years and the need to make the rendering of the services self-sustaining.