Passport crisis to end soon – Mwaura

The government yesterday blamed the breakdown of printing machines for the delay in the issuance of passports that has frustrated thousands of Kenyans.

On Wednesday, chaos erupted at the Immigration office as angry Kenyans protested the delay in processing passports, some saying they had waited for over a year.

Government Spokesman Isaac Mwaura yesterday said due to the malfunction of the machines, the backlog of passports waiting to be printed has been growing.

He promised that delays would soon be a thing of the past as the Interior Ministry is in the process of commissioning new machines.

“We have been having a problem because of the machines breakdown. There are new machines that have been procured and CS Kindiki (Interior) will be launching the machines soon. However, Kenyans have no cause to worry. The demand for passports is extremely high and the backlog is also high,” Mwaura said.

Mwaura noted that similar challenges are being witnessed at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters as Kenyans seek to apply for the Certificate of Good Conduct.

For the police clearance document, he said there has been a shortage in supply of the printing material

“The demand of Good Conduct is 2,000 copies per day against a backlog of 700,000. For passports, it has been a crisis but there are new books and we hope we can get to use the new machines and be able to rectify the challenges being experienced at Nyayo House,” the Government Spokesperson said.

High risk

Mwaura also warned about an outbreak of polio which he termed as an importation from a neighbouring country where 14 cases were sequenced towards the end of last year.

“In an effort to fight this outbreak, the government has conducted three rounds of Supplementary Immunisation Activity (SIA), with 7,683,235 children already covered in the counties of Garissa, Kiambu, Nairobi, Kajiado, Mandera, Wajir, Tana River, Kitui, Lamu and Machakos.”

“The third round targeting the high-risk counties of Mandera, Wajir and Garissa, which had been postponed following disruption of infrastructure by the El Nino rains, resumed this week targeting 993,458 children,” he stated revealing that the government had activated the National Public Health Emergency Operations Centre to coordinate the mitigation efforts.

The government has also identified seven polio isolations, six from environmental surveillance sites in Garissa and one from a site in Eastleigh area of Nairobi.

“We have also enhanced surveillance at the National and County levels and currently doing collection of environmental samples twice a month in Garissa County. Crossborder surveillance in border counties and training on Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in the counties has also been stepped up,” he explained.

Mwaura also announced the outbreak of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in North Horr, Marsabit County, which he attributed to El Nino rains which led to a surge in mosquito population.

“The public is further advised to avoid handling and consumption of uninspected meat, use protective equipment when handling animal births, discard animal stillbirths and dispose of carcasses. Individuals experiencing fever are advised to visit the nearest health facility for assessment,” Mwaura said during his weekly briefing.

Subsidized fertiliser

On the Red Eye disease that has widely been reported in Coastal counties, he said the condition is usually self-limiting and rarely causes long-term complications to the eyes and therefore needs not cause alarm.

Mwaura also spelt out a raft of measures being implemented to boost agriculture.

He said the government had started the distribution of subsidised fertilizer at Sh2500 per bag.

The distribution, he said, started on January 27, with a consignment of 240,000 bags of NPK 23:23:0 being dispatched to NCPB depots and other distribution centres.

More than 32,420 bags had been delivered to early planting counties of Narok, Nakuru, Bomet, Migori, Kisii and Nyamira.