Kindiki labels Nyayo House a crime scene, vows to clear all roadblocks

By Peter Ochieng

Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Interior Kithure Kindiki has vowed to clear all roadblocks in the country, by 1st November, 2023.

The CS said police roadblocks will be replaced by patrol security officers along highways and corridors across the country.

Kindiki spoke on Thursday, when he honoured an invite by the National Assembly's East Africa Community (EAC) regional and Integration committee, to speak on the government's support for free movement of goods, services and people within the region.

Concerns by various stakeholders pointed to the fact that numerous police roadblocks were causing problems for transporters and business people ferrying goods.

Kindiki said roadblocks should only be mounted by police officers to reach a particular goal, and once it is achieved, they should immediately be dismounted.

"Roadblocks are an old form of security in various nations. Roadblocks should be mounted on the request of the security operators to achieve a specific agenda and once it has served its purpose it’s dismounted."

The CS labelled Nyayo House, Nairobi a scene of crime due to difficulties Kenyans face while applying for passports.

Nyayo House hosts the immigration department offices.

He stated that there are officers demanding bribes for services that the government provides for free, in the long run causing great inconvenience to law abiding citizens.

"I will clean up Nyayo house once and for all. We will seal off Nyayo house and name it a scene of crime. How do Kenyans cue from 6am? It won’t be business as usual. We must clean up Nyayo house," vowed the CS, who has severally been ranked the best performing in president William Ruto's cabinet.

The CS said the passport backlog in the country currently stands at 58,000, adding that the department of immigration and citizen services processes approximately 5,000 passports per day.