Ov er 60,000 Kenyans who have been grappling with prolonged waiting periods to acquire their passports are now set to get them in three weeks.

This follows the Ministry of Interior’s decision to narrow the wait period for processing of passports to just three weeks.

This latest move by the Interior Ministry is aimed at addressing the surging backlog of passport applications and simplifying the operations of the Kenyan Immigration Department.

The department of immigration had already received over 100,000 passport booklets for processing.

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“We are in talks with investors for Public-Private Partnerships (PPT) so that we can manufacture and print these documents here in Kenya,” Principal Secretary Julius Bitok revealed.

With the state’s plan to privatize the passport printing process, manufacturing and printing of booklets will effectively decrease waiting time for passports, much to the relief of Kenyans discontented with the ordinary lengthy process.

“As a government, we are looking for the possibility of investing in local manufacturing of passports for paster and comparatively cheaper supplies,” he explained.

According to records from the Immigration Department, 63,265 applicants the backlog has been standing at about 63,000 applications.

A significant number of these applications had been submitted in favour of the highly sought-after 34-page A-series passports.

“The production of 15,358, 10,045 and 37,810 A, B and C series passports respectively that have been queued due to booklets shortage will now be cleared.”

“It will take you 21 days to receive your passport if you apply on the e-Citizen platform,” the PS said.

Bitok further encouraged Kenyans to capitalize on the ongoing digitization of government services and utilize the e-Citizen online platform for passport applications.

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki made an announcement in November of last year, revealing the ministry’s intention to purchase a new passport printing machine, requiring a sum of Sh. 150 million from the treasury.