The State has turned to the National Security Intelligence Service (NIS) to help secure passport printing materials from overseas to clear the existing backlog of 724,000 applications with the requests increasing on a daily basis.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki told Parliament that the government is facing difficulties sourcing passport printing materials due to worldwide supply chain shortfalls.
“I have assigned the NIS to support the State Department for Immigration and Registration of Citizens to get us these travel materials,” Prof Kindiki told the National Assembly Committee on Regional Integration.
“NIS has been supporting us with the procurement of the booklets and we have made tremendous progress since then. This has also helped us cut tender wars and the attendant nonsense on urgent procurement.”
This is not the first time that the government is tapping the services of the spy agency to secure critical equipment.
In 2020, the government engaged the services of the NIS to secure and supply Sh300 million worth of ventilators to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) for Covid-19 patients with breathing difficulties .
An inquiry by the National Assembly’s Health Committee revealed that Kemsa received a consignment of Covid-19 Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) from the spy agency.
The team, which investigated the controversial purchase of Covid-19 kits at Kemsa, said it was unable to review how NIS procured the 100 ventilators.
Prof Kindiki apologised to the country for not meeting an earlier target to issue passports within seven days of application as had been promised.
He said the surge in the application of passports following government policy on exportation of labour, the global supply chain disruptions of raw materials for printing passports approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and the war in Ukraine had compounded the situation.
Prof Kindiki said the suppliers of passport booklets cannot meet the required supply due to dynamics in the manufacture of passport security materials.
“We have approached all of them (suppliers), and they have told us they can’t supply us the numbers we need to arrest the situation. We need three million booklets every 90 days for the next two years,” Prof Kindiki said.
“After that, we will then move to schools to provide all 18-year-olds and above, passports even without them applying. I am sure we will be there because every Kenyan has a right to hold a passport.”
Prof Kindiki revealed that Kenya is facing a backlog of 724,000 passport applications, which the suppliers of the vital travel document say can only be cleared after 90 to 100 days of supplying the materials.
He told the committee that is chaired by Kipipiri MP Wanjiku Muihia that the Immigration department requires three million passport booklets every 90 days but suppliers can only provide 1.5 million booklets.
“We have talked to all suppliers and they have told us that there is a worldwide shortage of passport printing materials. They are saying they can deliver all the booklets today but can only supply 1.5 million in three months,” he said.
The CS said the initial problem of serious budgetary constraints has been addressed after the National Treasury agreed to allow the Immigration Department to spend Sh3 billion of internally generated funds to finance the operations and procurement of passport booklets.
“The Treasury has allowed the State Department of Immigration to spend Sh3 billion annually out of the Sh20 billion that it collects in appropriations-in-aid," Prof Kindiki said.
“If we get Sh5 billion annually to the Immigration Department, the revenue collected will jump to Sh100 billion annually.”
Ms Muhia, MPs Julius Ruto (Keses) and Joseph Gitari (Kirinyaga Central) demanded to know why the CS had failed to clear the backlog, corruption and long queues at Nyayo House and enable Kenyans to travel for greener pastures.
Prof Kindiki acknowledged that corruption is still rife at Nyayo House even after the arrest and prosecution of 17 members of staff.
