Uasin Gishu senator Margaret Kamar addressing the press during the athletics time trials at Moi University school of law on Wednesday, January 3, 2018. [Photo: Elvanis Ronoh].
Uasin Gishu and Nandi senators have urged the national government to bring back immigration offices to Eldoret town for athletes to get their passports easily.
They said athletes from the region are forced to travel to either Kisumu or Nairobi to get the crucial document.
“We want the immigration offices re-opened in Eldoret since athletes take 4-5 days looking for the passport in Nairobi thus wasting their training time,” said Uasin Gishu senator Prof. Margaret Kamar during the athletics time trials at Moi University school of law, Wednesday.
"This is a fast-growing town destined to become a city and we need that immigration office back here. We need this office more than Kisumu since this region has a lot of athletes traveling to foreign countries," said Nandi senator Samsom Cherargei.
“We are calling upon President Uhuru Kenyatta to even and bring back this office to this town if he really has the changes our athletes are facing at heart, this will be the new year’s gift to our athletes,” added Prof. Kamar.
“We are also demanding the immigration office to be processing passports for our athletes for a shorter time since some of them spent a week for them to get the document,” said Cheragei.
The office was closed in 2015 following the Al Shabaab threats and claims of the officials engaging in corruption when issuing passports to locals.