Samples of the new and old Kenyan passport as issued by department of immigration.(photo/pinterest)The Director of Immigration Services Maj-Gen (Rtd) Gordon Kihalangwa said the printing process of passports resumed on Monday evening; with many pending cases have been lying unattended since Thursday (January 11, 2018). This is said to have led to a huge backlog of applications.
Maj-Gen Kihalangwa added that efforts are in place to ensure that the backlog is dealt with and the issue of frequent power surge is also being addressed by Kenya Power.
The issue had caused uproar among many applicants who said they would not access the application system and production was slow. “The power surge at Nyayo House Building on January 11, 2018 affected the printing of passports. Technicians worked on the systems over the weekend and managed to restore the system yesterday (Monday) at 1500 hours,” he said.
The government rolled out issuance of the e-passports and announced the current passports will however remain in use up to 2019 as the roll-out continues after which they will be rendered obsolete.The roll-out is expected to cost the government Sh500 million and is being facilitated by a technology installed by the Pakistani government.