The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has defended the introduction of mandatory vehicle inspections, arguing that the programme is needed to improve road safety, strengthen security and establish an accurate record of vehicles operating in the country, even as the new rules face a court challenge ahead of their planned rollout.
Speaking on NTV on Tuesday, NTSA Director General Nashon Kondiwa said the government does not have a clear record of the actual number of vehicles currently on Kenyan roads because vehicles that have been scrapped or are no longer in use remain captured in official records.
"As we speak, we don't know the number of vehicles on our road. We don't know, because the truth is, since we started registering vehicles, we don't deregister them," he said.
Kondiwa explained that the failure to remove old and destroyed vehicles from the register has left authorities with inaccurate data that affects planning and oversight.
"Those ones they use to make other metals are still in our register to date," he said.
He said the gaps in vehicle records have also created opportunities for abuse, warning that some people exploit inactive registrations by attaching number plates from dormant vehicles to unregistered vehicles brought into the country.
"Some other people sneak in other vehicles from neighbouring countries, they pick the number plates of those vehicles that are stuck somewhere there and put them on those vehicles that are not registered," he said.
According to Kondiwa, such practices raise concerns that go beyond traffic management and could pose security risks.
"You don't know the intention of these activities," he said.
The NTSA boss maintained that the proposed inspection programme is aimed at addressing multiple concerns, including road safety, security and the need for reliable data for government planning.
"We have national security to take care of, we have road safety matters to take care of... and we need to know the population of vehicles for national planning," he said.
Kondiwa also dismissed the argument that vehicles only need to be inspected when they are first registered, saying roadworthiness can change over time as vehicles age and undergo wear and tear.
"We cannot assume that once a vehicle was inspected at the point of registration, it is forever roadworthy," he said.
He further argued that privately owned vehicles and motorcycles account for a large share of road crashes in the country.
"Private cars and motorcycles... are involved in 62% of all accidents," he said.
The defence of the inspection programme comes as a legal battle unfolds over the implementation of the new regulations, which are scheduled to take effect on July 1.
A petition filed at the High Court in Nairobi is seeking to stop the rollout of the vehicle inspection rules, with the petitioner arguing that the regulations were introduced without sufficient public participation.
Court papers filed through Mugane Law LLP seek conservatory orders suspending the implementation of Kenya Gazette Legal Notice No. 13 of 2026 until the case is heard and determined.
The petition contends that the process violated constitutional requirements, including the principle of public participation under Article 10, and warns that enforcing the regulations before the court reaches a decision could cause irreparable harm to the public.
Under the new rules, privately owned vehicles and government vehicles that are more than four years old would be subjected to annual inspections. The regulations would also require inspections for public service vehicles, school transport vehicles and vehicles that have undergone structural or mechanical modifications