Matiangi: Passports, IDs, birth certificates to be issued within a day

The government intends to start the issuance of identity cards, passports, birth and death certificates on the same day of application.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i says only applications originating outside Nairobi will take a bit of time.

“We cannot make Kenyans slaves in their country…that they have to pay our officers to get a service… This year we can’t experience the same reputation we have had about citizen services, said Matiang’i.

He added: “By 1st of July this year, issuance of a document and everything should be a same day service unless you are applying from outside Nairobi like for instance an ID or passport.”

He was speaking in Mombasa during the opening of the National Security and Development Forum.

According to the Interior CS, the government is set to roll out a six-month pilot program aimed at synchronizing existing data to ensure that applicants seeking identity cards, passports, birth and death certificates are issued within a day.

“Like birth certificates, which we can give here in Mombasa, why can’t someone walk to the office here in the morning, get it and go home,” he said.

In the 10-point agenda for the security sector, Matiang’i also announced the suspension of issuance of licences to firearm dealers in the country. This until a report on the crackdown on firearms in civilian hands is considered by the National Security Council.

With the Alshabaab intensifying attacks across the country, CS Matiang’i has warned perpetrators and their collaborators that the country was not just about to accept defeat as an option.

Other areas of focus for the sector will include the war against drugs, police reforms and security management in universities.