NTSA to outsource vehicle inspection services in new draft law

The private sector will now be able to establish firms to inspect and recommend vehicles for road use if a new bill by the National Transport and Safety Authority sails through.

The NTSA 2022 Draft Regulation, which is currently at the public participation stage, seeks to change the law to allow the agency to outsource inspection services from other firms across the country, a role which under the current law is reserved for NTSA only.

According to the proposed regulations, it would be considered an offence to operate or own a vehicle without an inspection certificate.

Additionally, altering any inspection certificate issued by NTSA or another inspection centre would also be considered an offence under the proposed traffic rules.

Motorists who try to beat the system by using an inspection certificate assigned to another vehicle would also be considered to have contravened the draft regulations.

Speaking on Tuesday at the North Eastern Polytechnic in Garissa county  after a public participation forum, NTSA chairman Aden Ali said that the move is aimed at reducing road accidents by ensuring that every vehicle on the road is roadworthy.

“Without the inspection, we cannot know the status of the vehicles on the road," Ali said.

“I'm asking all Kenyans to be compliant with rules of the road and also to take their vehicles for inspection before they put them on the road because by doing so they save the lives of Kenyans,” he added.

Ali further said that the transport regulation agency is also working on a law to regulate the boda boda sector which will require every operator to be in a registered Sacco just like public service vehicles.

"We want to put them in Saccos so that we can be able to tell which Sacco is doing a good job and those that are messing around," he said.

NTSA's deputy director for motor vehicle inspection, Opere Joel, said that in order to address the issues of altering vehicles and the certificates of inspection, NTSA is automating their services by taking pictures of the inspected vehicles and keeping them in their system as a proof of the status of the vehicle during inspection.

“When a vehicle is taken for inspection we ensure that photographic images of both the interior and exterior are taken and their details so that when they are changed we will have the pictures of the vehicle as at the time of inspection,” Joel said.

NTSA is expected to hold public participation forums across the country so as to educate motorists on the inspection law.

"A person who contravenes any provisions of these regulations commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding Sh1 million or imprisonment not exceeding six years or both in addition to any administrative action the Authority is empowered to take," the draft regulations read in part.