Interior CS Kindiki has labeled Nyayo House a “crime scene” and promised to clean it up due to increased corruption and backlog cases for Kenyans seeking passports. Kindiki while appearing before the Regional Integration committee on Thursday at the parliament building admitted that Nyayo house is a crime scene.
“I will spend a bit more time, physically, to provide the leadership that we require and clean up that Nyayo House place,” He said.
The CS has vowed to crack down and clean up the Nyayo house, blaming corrupt officials for the interminable delays in passport issuance and processing.
“If need be, we will seal the place and declare it a crime scene. At 6 a.m., you find Kenyans queuing. It is a bad public image. It appears to me that some of the incidences we have around terrorism could be perpetuated through some of these practices,” Kindiki said.
The CS also stated that there are officers at Nyayo House accepting bribes for services that the government provides for free and vowed to clean up Nyayo house once and for all.
According to the CS, the passport backlog currently stands at 58,000, with the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services processing approximately 5,000 passports daily.
He stated that plans are in the works to issue passports in 7 days, and that in the future, the issuance time will be reduced to 3 days, and 24 hours in the event of an emergency.
BY GBS REPORTER, Dennis Mugweru Munyi, 25, August 2023