Is the Government of Kenya being overambitious? Is the Government of Kenya promising service that will come to haunt it in the near future?
The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Government Coordination Dr. Fred Matiang’i has announced that the government will start issuing passports, ID cards and birth certificates within a day. This means, if the government actualizes its promise, one will be able to apply for a passport, or ID card, or a birth certificate and be able to get it on the same day.
The announcement by CS Matiang’i comes a few days after he reduced the waiting time for the issuance of passports from seven days to three days.
Speaking in Mombasa during the National Security and Development Forum, Matiang’i said starting July 2020, the government will be issuing instant services among them issuance of the documents on the same day.
“We cannot make Kenyans slaves in their country…that they have to pay our officers to get a service… This year we can’t experience the same reputation we have had about,” the firm and tough-talking CS said. “By 1st of July this year, issuance of a document and everything should be the same day service unless you are applying from outside Nairobi like for instance an ID or passport.”
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Kenyans, however, feel that CS Matiang’i is not being practical since “things on the ground are different.” For instance, even with the waiting period of 7 days for passports, Kenyans still got theirs after weeks to months of waiting.
“Those measures are not practical. Even with the 7-day waiting period, I got my passport after a month and a half,” said the seemingly angry Rahab Mbiriti.
For the issuance of ID cards, Kenyans are currently waiting for between 21 days to 3 months while a replacement of the ID takes between 2 weeks to 2 months in most issuance centers.