The Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm has written a “Letter of concern” to the Principle Immigration Officer in Nairobi regarding the Passport application of Mrs Anna Okoth which has not been processed more than 30 weeks after she submitted her Passport to the Embassy for renewal.
In a telephone contact with the Embassy, Peter, an Officer in charge of Passports, said that the Principle counselor Ms Jenipher Awuor wrote a letter last week to follow up the matter because the processing of the document had taken an unusually long time.
“I have a letter before me here and it was written last week. It is addressed to the Principle Immigration Officer and it is a very strong letter. It was written by the Principle councelor”, Peter said on telephone.
The long delay in processing the Passport was brought to light by KSB last week after the applicant took contact with the blog to request that the case be highlighted.
Speaking to KSB, Anna said that the extra-ordinary delay in processing her Passport was worrying her because she had not calculated that she would be unable to travel outside Sweden for a period of six months.
“I have already missed a planned trip to London and Germany. My freedom of Movement is being violated by the Kenyan government which is delaying in processing my Passport for reasons that have not been made clear to me. This is unacceptable”, she told KSB.
She said that withholding of Passports of Kenyan citizens belonged to a by-gone era and appealed to the Kibaki government to address the issue urgently.
She said that it was important that Kenyans abroad follow the case closely because anybody can become a victim at any time.
“We, Kenyans abroad, should not be in a situation where if you submit your Passport at a Kenyan Embassy for renewal, you cannot be sure when you will get a new one”, she said. She said that the concerns the Embassy is expressing now should have been expressed long time ago although she welcomed the move as “positive”.
She thanked KSB for taking up the case and promised to update the blog site in case of any further progress. She said that she will wait for a week before taking fresh contacts with the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm over the issue.
Okoth Osewe
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