Catherine W GichukiDohaThere is good news for Kenyans expatriates in Qatar as they can now apply for and obtain their electronic passports from Doha, a service that was previously not available for them, Kenyan ambassador to Qatar HE Paddy C Ahenda has said.According to the envoy, the expatriates can fill in an application at the eCitizen portal and then proceed to the Kenyan embassy for their biometrics to be taken.Speaking on the sidelines of the Green Maasai Troupe Annual General Meeting, Ambassador Ahenda said, “Kenyans can now get their e-passports from the embassy. The e-passport service was earlier not available at the embassy and Kenyans could only get the passports from Nairobi.”The envoy said that the embassy of Kenya in Qatar is the second in the Middle East region to have an e-passport service.He said that the embassy was upgraded to the same status as the Kenyan embassies in London and Washington DC.He said, “This is one of the reasons why the embassy was upgraded so that it can provide the e-passport service to Kenyans in Qatar. The e-passport staff was sent here two months ago and they are ready now to start issuing the e-passports.”He noted that passports of some Kenyans have expired and those that have not expired are the non-biometric type, which will no longer be in use from October this year.The embassy has moved to a more spacious new location to cater to the need of the growing population of Kenyans in Qatar. “Because we now have more staff, we had to relocate to a more spacious place to serve Kenyans and Qataris better,” the envoy said.Ahenda added that the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), commonly referred to as Huduma Namba (number)) will be out soon and Kenyans will be contacted to collect their numbers. “All Kenyans in Qatar who applied for the Huduma number should wait for an SMS to be sent to them,” he said. The ambassador also praised the Kenyan expatriates for being good ambassadors in Qatar. He said, “Kenyans in Qatar are doing a great job in helping to build the country. I would urge them to continue working diligently with professionalism that is required since Qatar deserves the best. I urge them also to be good ambassadors wherever they are.”According to him, the embassy is experiencing a high demand for Kenyans expatriate workers because of their proven discipline and high integrity at their places of work. “We urged Qatari labour recruitment companies to liaise with the embassy for seamless transition and recruitment of the required labour force,” he said.He also urged Kenyans to be their brothers’ keeper and contact the embassy for any support that they may require.Currently, there are over 35,000 Kenyans living and working in Qatar.