The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) has said it is stuck with over 50,000 new passports. Simon Peter Mundeyi, the ministry of internal affairs spokesperson, said people have been applying to get the passports in the last few months but they don’t pick them after they have been printed.
Mundeyi said much as they earlier had over 40,000 uncollected passports for the years of 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, majority were collected after several media stories. Out of the more than 40,000 uncollected passports for the last four years, Mundeyi said they are no left with only 10,000 except these new ones that are piling up.
But DCIC said the latest passports that are not being collected are clogging their stores yet people paid for them and they were printed thinking the applicants really needed them urgently.
Mundeyi said people need to check with the passport collection centre in Kyambogo where Face Technologies had its offices.
Even those applying for passports have been reminded to do online and should avoid using brokers who swindle their money for nothing. Ordinary passports costs 250,000 shillings, Express passport costs 400,000 shillings, Service and Diplomats cost 500,000 shillings.
Meanwhile, DCIC has opened the sixth passports collection center in foreign countries. The latest one has been opened in Copenhagen, in Denmark. Other overseas passports collection centers are in Pretoria, London, Washington, and Ottawa.