State Department of Immigration to introduce day and night shifts to process passports

The Acting Director General of the State Department of Immigration, Evelyn Chelugut, has announced that the department will be introducing day and night shifts to deal with the backlog of passport applications.

Speaking at Nyayo House, Chelugut said that the shifts will run from Monday to Sunday, from 7 am to 9 pm. This will allow the department to process more applications and reduce the waiting time for Kenyans who need to travel.

Chelugut also said that the department has dedicated counters for urgent cases. This means that people who need their passports urgently will be able to get them processed more quickly.

In addition, Chelugut said that the department is working to purchase new equipment for printing passports on a 24-hour basis. This will further help to reduce the backlog and improve the processing time for passport applications.

Chelugut appealed to the staff of the State Department of Immigration to work as a team to serve Kenyans efficiently. She also emphasized that the government is working round the clock to deal with the issues at hand.

The announcement of the day and night shifts comes after an in-house memo was issued last Friday to all staff at the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services. The memo notified the staff of a meeting to be held today at 6:40 am at the passport banking hall, where all were required to attend without fail.

The announcement of the day and night shifts is a welcome move by the State Department of Immigration. It is clear that the department is taking the issue of the backlog of passport applications seriously and is committed to finding solutions. The introduction of the day and night shifts will hopefully help to reduce the waiting time for Kenyans who need to travel.

The announcement of the day and night shifts also comes at a time when the Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kithure Kindiki, has publicly announced that brokers working with bureaucrats at immigration have turned Nyayo House into a den of crime. Kindiki said that he received credible intelligence that among the contributing factors to delayed passport processing at the office is corruption.

The CS told Parliament that he would take leadership in cleaning up the mess in the agencies that fall within his ministry. He said that the government will take “very drastic action” if need be, including sealing off the place and declaring it a scene of crime.

The announcement of the day and night shifts is a positive step by the State Department of Immigration. However, it is important that the department also takes steps to address the issue of corruption at Nyayo House. This is essential to ensure that Kenyans can get their passports processed quickly and efficiently, without having to pay a bribe.