The State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services, Republic of Kenya is at the nerve center of every Kenyan’s operations with ID cards and Passports being mandatory documentation for work and travel, both locally and internationally.
However, with the entry of Julius Bitok as the Permanent Secretary (PS) of the important state department, Kenyans have faced unprecedented suffering, anguish and frustrations that have no end in sight.
Despite countless excuses to justify the delays in Kenyans’ getting the important documents as is the norm, and thereafter, promises of purchases of printers and machines to sort the delays, nothing remains unchanged.
Ironically, the services under the state department were previously handled by a single Interior PS under Uhuru Kenyatta’s government and with the introduction of three PSs, with Bitok taking over the sensitive Citizen Services and Immigration department, Kenyans expected services to get better, but the opposite has unfolded.
“During the previous regime, we had only one PS in Interior, and it used to take 14 days to get an ID. Now, we have three PSs but it takes more than 7 months to get IDs, passports, and birth certificates. What’s going wrong?” @PropesaTV posted on X.
In desperation, Kenyans have been forced to part with large sums of money to ‘Nyayo House’ cartels to get the important documents that have become an elusive service under Bitok’s watch.
Kenyans now call for PS Julius Bitok’s resignation or sacking for being unable to perform his office’s duties.