Nairobi — The Directorate of Immigration has cleared an additional 15,400 passport applications and relayed passports to regional centres for distribution in an ongoing Rapid Results Initiative (RRI).

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the documents were available for collection beginning Monday, October 2.

Kindiki had reported 22,353 passport collections in Nairobi and regional immigration offices countrywide in the period preceding Monday's announcement.

Out of the 15,400 newly dispatched passports, the Nairobi passport office holds 7,501 passports, Mombasa (1,166), Kisumu (1,602) and Nakuru (1,000).

In Eldoret, 1,543 passports are ready for collection, while in Kisii 1,500 copies have been dispatched.

A total of 1,088 passports are ready for collection in Embu.

Kindiki launched the RRI campaign on September 19 in a bid to clear a soaring passport backlogs amid a crisis at the Immigration Department blamed on a broken printer and corruption.

"The Government will continue to align our procedures and delivery environment to ensure we bring permanent efficiency in the immigration department and sustain the war against corruption to win back public confidence," Kindiki said in statement at the time.

Kindiki reported the number of uncollected passports, at the time, as 87,574 asking owners to pick them promptly.

He announced plans to publish names of persons with uncollected passports every Wednesday.

Nairobi's Nyayo House office had the highest number of uncollected passports at 36,170 while Embu held 10,409 copies.

Eldoret, Kisumu and Nakuru had 9,938, 9.515 and 8,023 copies respectively while Kisii and Mombasa had 7,971 and 5,424.