The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) says it plans to overhaul the production of driving licenses and vehicle number plates by bringing in private sector investors.
NTSA Director General Nashon Kondiwa said the initiative targets persistent delays in producing and issuing the documents.
Kondiwa argued that the government should not directly handle the production and sale of driving licences and number plates, noting that many countries rely on licensed private firms instead.
“I do not think a government, or any government institution, should be trading in number plates, which is what has been happening in Kenya since independence. If you look at what is happening in other countries, the governments actually license private producers, and that is what we intend to do in the coming days,” he said on Monday.
Kondiwa said delays in issuing driving licenses have largely stemmed from underfunding. He noted that the project, launched in 2017, has struggled to meet its goals because resources have remained limited.
According to Kondiwa, the smart driving license system has been rolled out for nearly a decade, yet only 20 enrollment kits have been deployed across the country.
“Delay in driving license production is a problem of underfunding. This smart driving license started in 2017, and we have only used 20 enrollment kits,” he said.
To tackle the bottlenecks, Kondiwa said NTSA is looking to adopt a privately initiated model in which private investors would finance and run major parts of the licence production process. He added that the investor would set up as many as 290 centres nationwide, enabling Kenyans to walk in and receive their driving licenses within a short time.
“This is why driving licence production is one of the things we are taking to PPP. Why don’t we have the private sector invest in this? What has really affected us are the court orders,” Kondiwa said.
He added that the proposed reforms are expected to speed up the production of driving licences and number plates, cut waiting times, and improve access to NTSA services across the country.
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