Kenyans can now breathe a sigh of relief after the government on Friday announced that there will be no deadline to acquire the new e-passports.
This is after hundreds of Kenyans rushed to Nyayo House in a bid to acquire the new e-passports ahead of the August 31 deadline.
Kenyans had decried long queues and slow service delivery at immigration centres, a situation which had forced many to go to the centres as early as 3am in the morning hoping to acquire the passport.
Immigration Department Director-General Alex Muteshi has, however, said there will be no deadline for fresh applicants.
Muteshi in a statement said issuance of the new generation e-passports will continue, adding that the August 31 deadline was for using the old-generation passport.
“The long queues witnessed is due to a misconception that people will not be allowed to apply for the e-passport after the end of August. These are the fears we as government want to allay,” he said.
The director general said measures have been taken to curb slow service delivery at the centres as witnessed when there was a breakdown of printing machines.
“We have taken contingency measures to ensure that this does not happen through regular servicing. When servicing the machines, printing has to be stopped for only a short while before immediate resumption,” he added.