Nairobi — Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has promised the restoration of a broken passport printer within seven days further committing to the clearing of the current backlog by June 30.

Kindiki told news reporters on Wednesday some 42,000 pending applications will be cleared within twenty-one days once the printing hitch is fixed.

Speaking while giving his second public accountability statement, Kindiki acknowledged that the breakdown had caused delays, with some applicants waiting for several months to receive their passports.

"We have taken urgent remedial measure to correct that problem. I plead for patience and within 7 days, we will restore the broken equipment and we already have stocks that arrived on Friday which can help us clear the backlog and also help us with the normal ongoing applications," Kindiki said.

He Immigration Department will process new passport applications within seven days once the backlog is cleared.

Kindiki further committed to the processing of emergency applications within 24 hours.

The Interior CS said he had received complaints from some members of the public who have expressed frustrations regarding immigrations officials who have asked for bribes to fast track their applications.

He added that the government will make far-reaching administrative changes within the Department of Immigration to "make sure that we make it impossible for any person to ask for a bribe from a Kenyan to provide passport services."

The Interior CS put corrupt immigrations officials on notice saying they will face the law.

"Any person within our offices who is giving the government a bad name, we will just treat you as a criminal. In my many responsibilities, I am going to supervise that exercise myself," he warned.