Passport conmen in Mombasa, Kisumu and Kisii on DCI radar
Days after the arrest of four people suspected of aiding corruption related to issuance of passports at Nyayo House Nairobi, the Ministry of Interior has taken the war to Kisii, Mombasa and Kisumu cities. Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations are hunting down suspected linked to passport issuance racket that has caused pain to thousands of Kenyans seeking passports.
Immigration and Citizens Services PS Julius Bitok says the “crackdown will be extended to other cities and towns where there are complaints from Kenyans that are not able to get passports because there are people who are suspected to be abeting corruption.”
“We are going to make Nyayo House a place where you can expect to be served diligently without having to know anyone or parting with bribe,” Dr Bitok added.
Last week, DCI officers seized four men around Nyayo House “for defrauding unsuspecting applicants.”
Meanwhile, the ministry of interior is peojecting to clear the backlog on the processing of passports within two weeks. “We are producing around 3600 passports per day. We have managed to reduce the backlog that was around 100,000 passports to around 45,000,” said Bitok.
The PS added that with the deployment of leased passport printers under private-public-partnership, the waiting period for passports will be reduced to seven days and eventually turn into an express service.
