A committee of the Senate has promised to support investigations into allegations of corruption in the Department of Immigration involving issuance of passports.
The Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations gave the undertaking after it received a report from the ombudsman detailing corruption at the department.
The Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) conducted investigations into corruption in the issuance of passports and submitted a report to the Committee detailing complaints made by the public against Immigration officials.
CAJ was forced to intervene after Kenyans on social media complained of being overcharged in the payments of passports.
Members of the public have officers at the department and the e-citizen platform alleging that they had been issued passports having fewer pages than the ones they had applied and paid for.
The complainants alleged that they were forced to pay the amount of money meant for higher series of passports only to be issued with documents of lower series.
CAJ officials visited Immigration offices, the government digital payment unit under the National Treasury where it interviewed officers as well as complainants and obtained several documents related to the matter.
In some cases, citizens were compelled to pay Sh6,050 which is the cost of the 50-page series “B” passport.
“It was the only option provided to them while making their online applications on e-citizen,” said CAJ in their submission to the committee, which is chaired by Baringo senator William Cheptumo.
They were eventually issued with the 34-page series “A” passports whose cost is Sh4550 and they lost Sh1,500 to the government without a clear channel of recourse.
The explanation offered by the Immigration was that the anomaly was a result of the system error.
“No efforts were made by the Department to rectify the anomaly or reimburse the citizens for the cost difference between ‘A’ and ‘B’ series passports,” noted the Commission.
In its recommendation, CAJ wants the Principal Secretary, State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services to initiate an audit of the NADRA system for the period of 2021-2023 in order to identify all passport applicants whose excess payments have not been refunded.
The Commission also wants the PS to ensure that the 9 complainants in the case and all the other applicants whose excess payments have not been refunded are promptly refunded their monies.
The Commission has given six months as a period under which steps should be taken.
The commission`s delegation led by Vice Chairperson Washington Sati appealed to the Committee to intervene and push for justice for Kenyans who lost their money.
Members of the committee assured the Commission of its support indicating that it will work closely with it to help address issues raised.
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