The government has unveiled new number plates with inbuilt security features replacing current plates.
Speaking during the launch of the new plates at the General Service Unit (GSU) Recce unit, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i noted 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. 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.
Matiang’i, James Macharia (Transport) and Joe Mucheru of ICT have further urged for full compliance.
Kenyans will be required to pay Sh3,000 to replace old motor-vehicle number plates with new digital ones as the government has given motorists 18 months to replace the plates.
According to Macharia, the new license plates will make it easier to monitor vehicles entering the nation and will cover 12 categories of vehicles in accordance with Legal Notice 62 of 2016.
“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.
Regarding the terror incident at the Dusid2 complex in 2019, Matiang’i claimed that it allowed the perpetrators to use a cloned number plate to travel ahead of the attack, which resulted in the deaths of 22 people.
“We will not point fingers at anyone when we have challenges related to motor vehicle registration when we have allowed criminals to terrorise our people,” said Matiang’i.
The smart driving licences are expected to carry personal identification numbers, contacts, past traffic offences, fines previously paid and warnings, and police officers will have devices to read the information and add charge sheets to databases as necessary.