Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has launched a new generation of digital number plates with built-in security features that allow law enforcement agencies to trace car ownership.
Speaking at the GSU Recce unit Headquarters in Ruiru, Nairobi where the plates are being produced, CS Matiang’i said that the plates that comply with the amended Traffic Act of 2016 will include additional features, some of which will be visible to the public and others that will only be visible to security agencies for ease of tracing in the event they are involved in a crime.
According to Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, the plates that will be attached to vehicles imported into the country at the point of entry will be synchronized with KRA systems to help rid cases of tax evasion in the car-selling business.
“The work is being done by a multi-agency unit of the security sector and is part of the reforms initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta after the 2019 Dusit attack,” he said.
The capability allows us to convert the country’s 4.8 million vehicles to the new generation plates, but only for 18 months.
“When the NTSA team calls on Kenyans to change the plates, let us obey and get it done within those 18 months,” he added.
According to James Macharia, the CS of Transport, the new plates will cover 12 categories of vehicles in accordance with Legal Notice 62 of 2016 and will make it easier to monitor vehicles entering the country, which is a major transit hub in the region.
“They form a basis for tracking and monitoring vehicles in the country which have risen significantly from 3.2M million last year to 4.8 million this year,” said Mucheru.
Among other senior security officials, Matiang’i was accompanied by CS Joseph Mucheru (ICT) and NTSA Director General George Njao.
