• NTSA will gazette the exercise before it kicks off.
• The system set up at the facility allows NTSA to change to the country's 4.8 million vehicles to the new generation plates within a year.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
The National Transport Safety Authority has 18 months to roll out the new number plates across the country, Interior CS Fred Matiang'i has said.
"When the NTSA team calls on Kenyans to change the plates, let us obey and get it done within those 18 months," Matiang'i said.
Motorists will have to part with Sh3,000 to acquire digitised motor-vehicle number plates.
Matiang'i said the phase-out of the old number plates is part of the measures the country is putting in place to safeguard national security.
"These plates have several inbuilt security features some you will not see with a naked eye," Matiang'i said.
He spoke while launching the new plates at the General Service Unit (GSU) Recce unit Headquarters in Ruiru where the plates are being produced.
The CS was accompanied by his ICT counterpart Joseph Mucheru, NTSA Director General George Njao, Transport CS James Macharia and other senior security officials.
Matiang'i said the terror attack at Dusid2 complex in 2019 enabled the attackers to use a cloned number plate to move with a car loaded with explosives and weapons ahead of the attack that left 22 people dead.
The CS said this marked the start of reforms in the motor vehicle registration exercise.
"We will not point fingers at anyone when we have challenges related to motor vehicle registration when we have allowed criminals to terorrise our people."
He said the features are identifiable by security authorities and meet international standards in line with the 2016 amendments to the Traffic Act.
"The plates we were having were not compliant with international standards," the CS said.
The new plates, he explained, will also synchronize data sets on the origin of motor vehicles help deal with tax evasion at border points.
"I believe that if this is fully followed and implemented, we will deal with tax evasions sometimes at the point of entry on importation of motor vehicles," Matiang'i said.
He noted that the new security features will also help rein in on the transnational motor vehicle theft syndicate.
"We will not end up with vehicles that were destined for neighbouring countries."
Data will will also be shared with banking institutions to enable them curb fraud and forgery involved in securing funds.
“We have had cases where banks hold fake papers in the name of log books that were held as collateral and it became difficult to trace the real owners of loans taken,” Matiang'i said.
Macharia said the new plates will cover 12 category of vehicles in line with the legal notice 62 of 2016 and allow ease of monitoring vehicles coming into the country.
"They form a basis for tracking and monitoring vehicles in the country which have risen significantly from 3.2 million last year to 4.8 million this year," Macharia said.