The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) is under scrutiny by legislators regarding the whereabouts of Sh65 million funds derived from the sale of foreign vehicles and travel permits.
The charge is determined by the length of the applicants’ stay in the nation as well as the vehicle’s engine size.
However, the National Assembly Public Investments Committee claims in a report of state corporations that supporting documentation, such as permits issued and applications for renewal, were not provided to the auditor for verification.
According to the MPs, it was impossible to confirm the precise amount collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) or NTSA and how it is being used without sufficient paperwork from NTSA.
“Although the management explained that the fee is collected by the KRA, evidence of the measures in place to ensure all revenue due is collected and accounted for was not provided for audit,” reads the report.
In order to disassociate itself from the accusations, the safety authority informed the committee that KRA collects the amounts but that they are currently working on developing a joint information-sharing system.
Additionally, they also stated that all the revenues received under this revenue stream were fully supported by schedules from the E-Citizen platform where they were collected.
In order to ensure seamless service delivery, NTSA claims that it had adopted a multi-agency team approach of end-to-end system integration with KRA and the Government Digital Payment Platform based on mutual understanding. This absence at the border was caused by the East African Border Protocol, which prohibits many agencies from being present at the border except KRA.
“This initiative was intended to enhance automation of various processes, complete with a clear audit flow of all transactions for the three government entities,” NTSA told the committee.
In order to integrate KRA’s customs system with the Transport Integrated Management System and provide the Authority a role in revenue collection, it also informed MPs that it was finalizing its engagement with KRA.
It further mentioned that it is attempting to align this revenue stream by establishing a Service Level Agreement with KRA.
To maintain transparency, the committee now requests that the NTSA and KRA accounting officers quickly finalize and implement the information-sharing agreement on imported automobiles during this fiscal year.
