Gov't Orders All Public Servants to Acquire e-Passports

The government has ordered all public servants to acquire e-Passports before March 1st, 2019.

In a circular, Head of the Public Service Joseph Kinyua said state officers who will not have acquired the digital travel documents by the aforementioned date will not be cleared to travel abroad.

“Where a public servant does not have an e-passport by March 1st, 2019, they will be ineligible for clearance until after September 1st, 2019," reads the circular.

The directive applies to all state officials including Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Governors, MPs, Senators, accountants and all members of independent commissions.

Kinyua said public servants can upgrade their travel documents at immigration centers in Nairobi, Nakuru, Embu, Mombasa, Eldoret and Kisii.

Those abroad can do so in Washington, DC (US), London (UK), Berlin (Germany) Paris (France), Pretoria (South Africa) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

Kenyan passport holders have until September 1st to acquire e-Passports.

“The current passports will cease to be valid travel documents with effect from September 1st, 2019,” Kinyua said.