Sh70m to buy new passport printers

The Department of Immigration and Citizen Services is set to receive an additional MYS 70 million in the upcoming budget for the purchase of high-capacity passport printers after booklets accumulated at the expense of faulty machines.

The Budget and Appropriations Committee recommended the allocation after observing that the administration could not handle the high demand for passports by Kenyans.

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However, the provisions are just shy of Sh200 million, which is estimated as a condition for the purchase of modern printers.

“The Department of Immigration and Citizen Services could not handle the number of Kenyans seeking passports to travel abroad in search of other economic opportunities due to the insufficient capacity of the current printer, which prints only 900 passports compared to the daily demand of 5,000 applicants,” the Budget and Appropriations Committee noted in Its report is to study estimates of revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year that begins on the first of next July.

Kenyans seeking passports were forced to wait even longer for key travel documents after a printer broke down at Nyayo House in March, which was not repaired until the end of last month.

Passport printing was limited to a smaller machine with lower output, which escalated the backlog.

Sources in the Immigration Department had indicated The daily business Earlier that delay would be resolved by getting new printers.

“It is true that there is a problem with passport issuance at Nyayo House. We need to invest in modern printers to solve the problem. Unless we upgrade the printers, we will still suffer in terms of backlogs in the coming days,” said a foreign ministry source who requested anonymity.

The Home Office said last week that new passport applicants would receive their travel documents within a week after reforms to the immigration department, including fixing a faulty printer.

Meanwhile, people who need passports on an emergency basis will get their travel documents within 48 hours. Currently, the immigration department estimates the number of passport backlogs at 42,000.

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“I want to plead for patience while we fix the broken printer in the next seven days. We will make sure once the printer is fixed, that all applications for new passports will be received within seven working days,” Cabinet Minister Keithor Kindecke said on Wednesday last week.

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