Barely one and half years after the reopening by President William Ruto, the Garissa regional immigration office has made tremendous strides in bringing and delivering the immigration services closer to the people.
According to the Deputy Officer In-Charge Abdi Sheikh Ali, the Office which serves at least six counties including Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, and Isiolo has so far processed over 16,000 passport applications, with over 15,800 passports already collected.
Ali said that the reopening of the office, which was closed in 2014 by the previous government, was a major milestone in decentralizing immigration services to closer to the people of the north eastern region.
“This office was launched by the president on 6th February last year, and it has since dealt with 16084 passport applicants of which we have already issued 15,800 passports. The applicants usually get text messages to come and pick their passports when they are ready. There was a strong demand for a passport office in this region, and as you can see from the numbers, there is a lot of response from the residents and they are very happy,” Ali said.
“This office is a major milestone by the ruling government to ensure that this office is in place and it has also decentralized service delivery to closer to the people. As an officer of this office, we are going to ensure that we provide seamless services to the people,” he added.
Outside the immigration office, we meet Fatuma Bare Mohamed, who has just collected her passport just after five days since application.
Fatuma says that the process was seamless and efficient, and that the immigration officers at the station served her smoothly.
“I thank the government for bringing this service close to us. Without this office here, it would have been costly for me to travel to Nairobi with a small baby,” Fatuma said.
Habiba, another applicant, cannot hide her joy at the waiting area, ready to collect her passport after just one week.
Sheikh Hassan Abdi, the Supreme council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) chairperson for Garissa branch says that since independence, this is the first time the people of the north eastern region are getting tangible development projects.
He noted that for the Muslim community in the region, it was hard for them to attend the Ramadhan Hajj prayers in Mecca, first because of lack of national ID cards and then for lack of passports.
“Every year, 5000 Muslims from Kenya, including those from this region, are able to go for Hajj in Mecca for Ramadhan prayers. You can’t go for Hajj without a passport but now our government has brought this office home, close to the people in Garissa. The immigration office here has also set up a special desk for those going for Hajj to fasten the process,” Sheikh Hassain said.
“We thank this government for, first, abolishing the vetting process for our people to get National IDs, because without an ID you cannot get a passport and then, for bringing this Immigration office here for our people. For us in the north eastern region, 63 years down the line since independence, it is only two years that we have seen passports under President William Ruto,” he added.
North Eastern Regional commissioner John Otieno on his part noted that the reopening of the office was part of the government’s commitment to bringing services closer to the people and promoting inclusivity for all Kenyans to access services equally.
“This office has facilitated the processing of passports; in fact, we have been briefed that people here are getting passports within a span of 5 days. It has reduced the cost in terms of expenses used to travel, before then, they used to travel to Nairobi or Mombasa to get the passports,” Otieno said.
