Imag­ine a young boda boda rid­er named Wafu­la, stopped by the police on a bustling Nairo­bi street. His motor­cy­cle lacks prop­er reg­is­tra­tion because the Nation­al Trans­port and Safe­ty Author­i­ty (NTSA) has­n’t issued num­ber plates. Wafu­la, des­per­ate and frus­trat­ed, is forced to pay a bribe to avoid los­ing his liveli­hood. This scene repeats dai­ly across Kenya, under­min­ing pub­lic trust and security.

As Chair­per­son of the Motor­cy­cle Assem­blers Asso­ci­a­tion of Kenya, I recent­ly con­vened an urgent meet­ing. The assem­blers voiced their anger and despair at the per­sis­tent inef­fi­cien­cies with­in NTSA. The frus­tra­tions were so intense that we near­ly marched to NTSA offices to demand action after numer­ous unmet promises.

Estab­lished to ensure road safe­ty, man­age vehi­cle reg­is­tra­tion, and uphold pub­lic safe­ty, NTSA’s role is cru­cial. Motor­cy­cles are inte­gral to Kenya’s trans­port infra­struc­ture, pro­vid­ing afford­able mobil­i­ty and sus­tain­ing liveli­hoods for mil­lions. Yet, NTSA’s ongo­ing inef­fi­cien­cy in issu­ing num­ber plates and reg­is­tra­tion doc­u­ments direct­ly con­tra­dicts its mandate.

Approx­i­mate­ly 10,000 motor­cy­cles oper­ate with­out prop­er reg­is­tra­tion plates, specif­i­cal­ly those rang­ing from KMGQ/R to KMGR/A. The prob­lem runs deep­er: log­books are indef­i­nite­ly stuck in the Trans­port Inte­grat­ed Man­age­ment Sys­tem (TIMS VRL), restrict­ed access to sys­tem sup­port frus­trates deal­ers and rid­ers, and delays in dis­patch­ing crit­i­cal doc­u­men­ta­tion have become the norm.

These issues are not mere bureau­crat­ic incon­ve­niences; they pose severe risks to nation­al secu­ri­ty. Unreg­is­tered motor­cy­cles involved in rob­beries, vio­lent crimes, and even mur­ders remain vir­tu­al­ly untrace­able. This alarm­ing real­i­ty fos­ters an envi­ron­ment that is ripe for crime and law­less­ness. Addi­tion­al­ly, unreg­is­tered motor­cy­cles hin­der cru­cial acci­dent inves­ti­ga­tions and emer­gency respons­es. Imag­ine the dis­tress of acci­dent vic­tims and their fam­i­lies who are unable to claim jus­tice or insur­ance sup­port because the vehi­cles involved are undoc­u­ment­ed, deep­en­ing the trau­ma and chaos.

More­over, sys­temic cor­rup­tion thrives under these con­di­tions. Rid­ers with­out prop­er reg­is­tra­tion become easy prey for cor­rupt offi­cials, per­pet­u­at­ing bribery and erod­ing pub­lic trust in law enforce­ment. This sys­temic issue impacts not only indi­vid­ual rid­ers but also broad­er soci­etal trust in gov­ern­ment processes.

Finan­cial insti­tu­tions also suf­fer sig­nif­i­cant­ly from NTSA’s inef­fi­cien­cies. They encounter obsta­cles in pro­cess­ing loans and secur­ing col­lat­er­al due to incom­plete doc­u­men­ta­tion. Insur­ance com­pa­nies strug­gle with uncer­tain­ty and increased risk, lead­ing to eco­nom­ic stag­na­tion with­in the vibrant boda boda industry.

Our recent meet­ing high­light­ed painful sto­ries of finan­cial and emo­tion­al tolls. Assem­blers recount­ed cas­es where entre­pre­neurs invest­ed their life sav­ings into motor­cy­cles, only to face relent­less bureau­crat­ic bar­ri­ers. Recent data from the Boda Boda sec­tor report con­firms this stark real­i­ty, under­scor­ing sub­stan­tial eco­nom­ic con­tri­bu­tions that are threat­ened by admin­is­tra­tive delays and inefficiencies.

Alarm­ing­ly, NTSA has start­ed attribut­ing its fail­ures to insuf­fi­cient sup­port from oth­er insti­tu­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly the Nation­al Secu­ri­ty and Intel­li­gence Ser­vice (NSIS). As stake­hold­ers, we deeply respect NSIS for its cru­cial role in safe­guard­ing nation­al secu­ri­ty. Such esteemed insti­tu­tions should nev­er be pub­licly involved in admin­is­tra­tive blame-shift­ing. NTSA must prac­tice inter­nal account­abil­i­ty and clear­ly define roles to effec­tive­ly resolve these inefficiencies.

The con­se­quences of NTSA’s lax­i­ty are pro­found and far-reach­ing. It’s essen­tial to remem­ber that behind each motor­cy­cle reg­is­tra­tion is a Kenyan entre­pre­neur whose liveli­hood depends on time­ly, effi­cient pub­lic ser­vice. Every inef­fi­cien­cy trans­lates direct­ly into lost income, increased secu­ri­ty risks, and dimin­ished trust in gov­ern­ment institutions.

We call upon gov­ern­ment lead­ers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers to urgent­ly address these crip­pling inef­fi­cien­cies with­in NTSA. Fur­ther­more, this cri­sis must prompt a com­pre­hen­sive review of all essen­tial pub­lic insti­tu­tions to iden­ti­fy sim­i­lar inef­fi­cien­cies and rein­force account­abil­i­ty mechanisms.

Effi­cien­cy at NTSA is not mere­ly about ful­fill­ing admin­is­tra­tive duties; it is fun­da­men­tal­ly about safe­guard­ing our nation’s secu­ri­ty, sup­port­ing eco­nom­ic growth, and nur­tur­ing pub­lic trust. Every delay and unre­solved issue weak­ens the fab­ric of our soci­ety and economy.

Effi­cien­cy is not just a stan­dard; it is our solemn duty. Every delay weak­ens trust, empow­ers crime, and under­mines liveli­hoods. More­over, the increas­ing road acci­dents indi­cate numer­ous under­ly­ing issues. For safer roads and a secure Kenya tomor­row, let us choose dili­gence today. Think green, act green!