NAIROBI, Kenya — Private vehicle owners have been granted a one-year reprieve after the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) postponed the enforcement of mandatory vehicle inspections, citing a lack of capacity.
Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Tuesday, NTSA Director General Nashon Kondiwa said the authority had pushed back the rollout of compulsory inspections for private vehicles until at least June 2027 as it works to expand inspection infrastructure across the country.
According to Kondiwa, NTSA currently operates only 17 inspection centres nationwide, a number he said is insufficient to support full-scale enforcement.
“The enforcement, the mandatory requirement, is what we are going to postpone until we have enough centres. We intend to have the centres by June 2027,” Kondiwa said.
He noted that NTSA plans to increase the number of public inspection centres from 17 to 47 by the end of 2026, while the licensing of private inspection centres is expected to continue through the first half of 2027.
“We intend to have the 47 public centres by the end of this year. For the private ones, we are going to take up to a year, so that would be by June 2027,” he added.
The authority also plans to license at least 70 private inspection centres, a move aimed at creating sufficient capacity to serve the country’s growing vehicle population before mandatory inspections are enforced.
While compulsory inspections for private vehicles have been delayed, Kondiwa clarified that vehicle inspection services will still be available from July 1 on a voluntary basis for motorists who wish to have their vehicles assessed at existing NTSA centres.
The NTSA boss further stressed that the postponement does not affect vehicles already subject to mandatory inspections under existing laws.
“The mandatory enforcement by NTSA will be until June 2027, except for vehicles that require inspection for the sake of licensing, that is the commercial and PSVs,” he said.
As a result, commercial vehicles and public service vehicles (PSVs) will continue undergoing mandatory inspections as required for licensing and roadworthiness certification.
The announcement comes amid concerns from private motorists over NTSA’s earlier plan to begin enforcing mandatory inspections from July 1.
During inspections, officers will assess key safety and identification features, including brakes, headlights and vehicle colour, to verify roadworthiness and ensure the vehicle matches records held in the authority’s database.