President William Ruto has said that Kenyans seeking to relocate overseas in quest of greener pastures would now receive passports within a week.
Speaking in a roadside rally, he stated that the government is looking for work prospects abroad for Kenyans, and that there are now 400,000 job openings. READ FULL STORY
Ruto also stated that the government will pay for travelers’ airfare and process their requisite travel paperwork within a week.
“Every week, 1,000 Kenyan teenagers go for work in other countries. Now Taita Taveta should prepare for their turn,” he stated.
Ruto urged MPs to mobilize the county’s youths to participate in the programme.
“To the MPs, I have completed my duty of seeking for jobs abroad; I have prepared to provide passports and other necessary documentation to anyone who wishes to travel abroad for work within a week. They will not have to pay for the airline ticket; we will pay for it,” he said.
This comes at a time when the Immigration Department, which is part of the Ministry of Interior, is struggling to process passports.
Over the last three years, many passport applicants have experienced delays due to a lack of passport booklets, a breakdown in printing equipment, corruption and bad public relations on the part of staff.
The department promised to work extra to guarantee that Kenyans received their passports on schedule.
Passport wait time
In May, PS for Immigration and Citizen Services Julius Bitok has said that Kenyans will be able to get passports within three days after application.
He said ongoing reforms will ensure the travel documents are processed within the three days as from August.
Bitok said the government had almost completed modernisation of machinery required for the issuance of passports smoothly.
Currently, he says it takes at least two weeks to process passports but the period will be reduced to three days.
“All this is in line with President Ruto’s policies to ensure Kenyans easily access government services and operating quickly and smoothly,” he said.
Bitok said his department was also devolving the same services to ensure government services are offered within all constituencies.
“By taking the services closer to the people we will be working in line with President Ruto’s bottom up economic plans to improve life for Kenyans especially those at the bottom of the pyramid,” he said.
