The Kenyan government has introduced a new green-colored service passport for public servants and state officers traveling abroad on official government assignments who do not qualify for diplomatic passports. This move aims to create a distinct middle ground between ordinary passports and heavily restricted diplomatic passports. The announcement was made by Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizen Services Belio Kipsang during a National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security meeting.
The green passport will bridge the gap for thousands of public servants who travel for official government business but fall outside the strict legal thresholds required to hold a diplomatic passport. Historically, service passports were primarily issued to members of the disciplined services, including police officers and military personnel traveling overseas on official duties. The new travel document has already been printed and will be officially rolled out once the necessary administrative regulations are finalized.
The introduction of the green passport is part of a broader government initiative to overhaul and decentralize passport administration across the country. The government is also upgrading regional immigration offices to provide full passport registration, processing, and biometric capture services. These upgrades aim to ease congestion at major centers and decentralize essential citizen services closer to local populations.
The move comes after lawmakers raised concerns that several constitutional officeholders and independent commissions had previously been excluded from the eligibility list for diplomatic passports. The committee session centered on a petition filed by the Commission on Administrative Justice, which highlighted unequal treatment of officials serving in various constitutional offices. PS Kipsang assured lawmakers that the government is willing to review current regulations to bring them into alignment with the governance changes introduced by the 2010 Constitution.
Under current legal guidelines, diplomatic passports are heavily restricted and reserved for designated senior state officials, including the President, Deputy President, Cabinet Secretaries, and Principal Secretaries. The Interior Cabinet Secretary has discretionary power to approve diplomatic passports for individuals outside the specified statutory categories when strictly necessary for critical government assignments. Kipsang emphasized the need to safeguard the prestige and verification standards of the country’s highest-level travel documents.
The green passport creates an additional, distinct category of official travel documents in Kenya, joining the country’s existing ordinary and diplomatic passports. The document will be issued to public servants who travel for official government business but do not qualify for diplomatic passports. This move is expected to streamline official travel for public servants, resolve long-standing administrative complaints from independent bodies, and ensure a clear demarcation between diplomatic duties and routine public service missions abroad.
As the National Assembly committee concludes its review of the petition, the finalization of the green passport regulations is expected to have a significant impact on the travel documentation of public servants. The government aims to ensure fairness and equity in state travel documentation, and the introduction of the green passport is a step towards achieving this goal. The new travel document will help to resolve long-standing complaints from independent commissions and constitutional officeholders who felt excluded from the eligibility list for diplomatic passports.
Key points
- The green passport will create a distinct middle ground between ordinary passports and heavily restricted diplomatic passports.
- The new travel document will be issued to public servants who travel for official government business but do not qualify for diplomatic passports.
- The introduction of the green passport is part of a broader government initiative to overhaul and decentralize passport administration across the country.
