Interior Cabinet Secretary Murkomen Announces Full Passport Centres in Nyeri and Malindi

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen announced on Tuesday that the government will establish fully operational passport registration centres in Nyeri and Malindi, extending immigration services beyond Nairobi.

The declaration came after Murkomen met senior officials of the Directorate of Immigration Services, where he said preparations for the new centres were already under way.

At present the immigration offices in the two towns provide only limited services, forcing applicants to travel to Nairobi for biometric capture and other essential stages of passport processing; the planned upgrades will allow complete registration locally.

Murkomen said, "We are well on course with the decentralisation of passport issuance, bringing this crucial document closer to where citizens live," adding that the programme already includes passport centres in Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kericho, Embu, Bungoma, Kisii, Nakuru and Garissa.

The expansion aims to ease pressure on central offices, reduce travel costs for Kenyans travelling abroad for employment, education or business, and broaden access to the travel document across Central Kenya and the northern coast.

He also noted that the installation of electronic gates at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport continues, stating, "Our other reforms include the ongoing installation of E-gates at JKIA to facilitate faster processing of travellers."

In addition, the National Employment Authority has secured a dedicated desk at the Nairobi immigration offices to streamline processes related to the government's overseas employment programme.