Kenya Insights

Tag: National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA)

  • Lobby Group Seeks to Halt Illegal Extension of NTSA Boss George Njao’s Tenure

    Lobby Group Seeks to Halt Illegal Extension of NTSA Boss George Njao’s Tenure

    The Road Safety Association of Kenya has launched a fierce campaign to block what it calls an unconstitutional attempt to extend the tenure of George Njao, the Director General of the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), for an additional three years.

    The lobby group argues that such a move would violate Kenyan law and undermine public trust in the governance of state institutions.

    In a strongly worded protest letter addressed to the State Corporations Advisory Committee, the Association, led by Chairman David Njoroge, contends that Njao’s current term—his second as NTSA boss—is set to expire in October 2025.

    Under Kenyan law, heads of parastatals and authorities are limited to a maximum of two terms, totaling six years.

    Njao’s first term ended in October 2022, after which it was extended for another three years, a decision the group already views as contentious.

    Now, with reports that the NTSA Board has ratified a third term for Njao, the Association is sounding the alarm.

    “We acknowledge that the current NTSA Director General, Mr. Njao, has already served his two full terms totaling six years,” the letter states.

    “He has applied to have his contract extended for a further term of three years despite gross shortcomings and illegal conduct in the said position, in utter violation of the Constitution, the Public Officer Ethics Act No. 4 of 2003, and the Leadership and Integrity Act No. 19 of 2012.”

    The lobby group accuses Njao’s leadership of being plagued by mismanagement, corruption, and incompetence, which they claim have contributed to preventable road deaths across the country.

    “The current DG’s term was marred with mismanagement and delinquency that occasioned the deaths of thousands of Kenyans through road carnage which could have been avoided if he offered proper leadership,” Njoroge wrote.

    He pointed to “extreme incompetence” that forced lobby groups to resort to legal action to compel the NTSA to fulfill its mandate.

    Among the specific allegations leveled against Njao are rampant corruption and nepotism, which the Association says contravene the governance principles enshrined in Kenya’s Constitution and various integrity laws, including the Mwongozo Code of Governance.

    The letter also highlights a controversial decision by Njao to award a contract for integrating speed governors into the NTSA’s servers to a company with alleged vested interests, sidelining other players in the speed limiter industry.

    “His tenure has been clogged with selfish interests,” the letter asserts.

    The Road Safety Association argues that extending Njao’s tenure would not only be illegal but would also erode the rule of law and public confidence in the NTSA.

    “The rule of law is under threat if this move is effected,” Njoroge warned, emphasizing that term limits for parastatal heads are a critical safeguard against entrenched mismanagement.

    To resolve the issue, the Association has called for Njao to proceed on terminal leave immediately, allowing for a smooth transition.

    It has also urged the NTSA Board to advertise the Director General position without delay.

    “Given the gravity of this matter, we expect a prompt and decisive response from the Board to uphold institutional integrity and restore public confidence,” the letter concludes.

    As the October 2025 deadline approaches, the standoff between the Road Safety Association and the NTSA Board is likely to intensify, raising broader questions about accountability and leadership in Kenya’s public sector.

    Neither Njao nor the NTSA Board has issued an official response to the allegations at the time of this reporting.

  • A Tragic Road Accident Claims Five Lives In Kwale

    A Tragic Road Accident Claims Five Lives In Kwale

    At least five people were Sunday September 15 morning killed in a road accident in Denyenye area in Kwale County.

    The victims were all pillion passengers on a motorcycle, police said

    The police said the accident involved a lorry and a motorcycle.

    According to police, one person sustained serious injuries in the 1 am incident along Likoni-Kombani Road.

    Police said the rider of the motorcycle was carrying five pillion passengers at the time of the accident

    The lorry had stalled on the road when the rider who was speeding rammed onto it from the rear side.

    As a result, five people died on the spot.

    Coast Regional Police boss George Sedah said the number of pillion passengers on the motorcycle were many and the move was illegal.

    He said the motorcycle was being ridden from Kombani towards Likoni when the incident happened.

    “It seems there were six people on the motorcycle because one survived and was rushed to the hospital,” he said.

    “These are too many people to be on a motorcycle at a time. We are looking into it.”

    Police visited the scene and moved the bodies to the Kwale Hospital Mortuary for identification and autopsy.

    The injured was rushed to the Diani Beach Hospital in serious condition.

    Dozens of people have been killed in the accidents in a worrying trend.

    This month alone, more than 20 people have died and dozens injured in the accidents.

    Last week on September 13, six school-going children were killed by a speeding car along the Kitui-Kibwezi road, Kitui County.

    Police said the victims included three primary school children and three from secondary school.

    The driver of the vehicle involved in the accident was later arrested and is facing serious charges, police said.

    Up to 4,000 people are killed annually in separate accidents.

    Many others are left with injuries in the incidents that have a negative impact on families.

    Some of the accidents remain unsolved, officials say.

    There are efforts to address the accidents.

    The National Transport and Safety Authority says the leading causes of fatal crashes included hit-and-runs, tyre bursts, and vehicles and motorcycles losing control.

  • NTSA Suspends Licenses For Bungoma Line And Smart Highways Sacco Shuttles

    NTSA Suspends Licenses For Bungoma Line And Smart Highways Sacco Shuttles

    The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has announced the suspension of Bungoma Line Safari Ltd and Smart Highway Sacco licenses for non-compliance.

    In a statement issued by the Director General, George Njao, on March 29, the two are accused of grossly violating road safety regulations including over speeding, “The suspensions were necessitated by the saccos failure to comply with provisions of Section 5 of the NTSA (Operation of PSV) Regulations, 2014 and analysis of speed data violations that were compiled through the NTSA Intelligent Road Safety Management System. (IRSMS),” the statement reads.

    The DG has recalled the Licences and ordered a fresh compliance check on all the vehicles, “”In its decision, the Authority expects the saccos to comply with all the requirements of the Traffic Act, the PSV Regulations and present their vehicles for compliance inspection to establish their roadworthiness and to confirm the functionality of the installed speed limiters,” he said.

    Bungoma Line Sacco operates 162 matatus and mostly traverses the western region while Smart Highways Sacco operates 29. All the vehicles will be subject to re-inspection for compliance including retesting for 14 Bungoma Line drivers and 2 of Smart Highways.

    Police have been instructed to immediately impound vehicles in operation.

  • DCI Arrests 11 In Sophisticated NTSA Vehicle Registration Fraud

    DCI Arrests 11 In Sophisticated NTSA Vehicle Registration Fraud

    DCI detectives have arrested 11 suspects in connection to a high-level motor vehicle registration fraud, at the National Transport and Safety Authority.

    This is after detectives conducted a comprehensive system audit of the NTSA Transport Integrated Management System (TIMS) after suspecting that crooked NTSA officials were operating back office accounts to register motor vehicles fraudulently.

    In the ongoing probe conducted by Cybercrime sleuths based at the National Forensic Laboratory, the main suspect identified as Jimmy Kibet Wayans, was arrested at a house in Lavington where he operated a suspicious account that had infiltrated the TIMS system to illegally introduce vehicles.

    For instance, in the months of March and April alone, 47 vehicles had their chassis changed while 54 were fraudulently added into the system, laying bare the extent of the fraud perpetuated by the criminals. Further investigations reveal that the suspect who is not an employee of NTSA had major back office roles and was in control of several other fictitious user accounts in the NTSA system.

    Detectives are also investigating how a deactivated account belonging to a former ICT officer at NTSA was reactivated and was being used for back office transactions, several months after he had tendered his resignation in July 2022.

    Following the revelation, three NTSA employees Anthony Waithaka, David Migwi and David Kimaren were also arrested, in the elaborate criminal enterprise that also involves officials from the Kenya Revenue Authority. So far, one suspect from KRA identified as Boniface Njoroge has been arrested as detectives burn the midnight candle to bring all the suspects involved in this high level fraud denying the government the much needed revenue to book. Also arrested were Denis Wafula, Anthony Kariuki and Marvin Renisi. Others are Julius Kiprop, Amos Muthaki and Caleb Odiambo.

    Previously, a comprehensive expose by the DCI, had unmasked how crooked officials at the motor vehicle registration body colluding with rogue staff working in Microfinance institutions and street brokers had made the lives of vehicles owners unbearable.

    This is after detectives uncovered an elaborate scheme where one motor vehicle registration number and its logbook would be registered to more than one vehicle and the fraudulent logbook used to secure loans from banks and microfinances. Before the bona fide owner of the logbook realized that his/her logbook had secured a loan, auctioneers from the microfinances involved would be rudely knocking on their doors, to impound and sell the vehicles for not ‘servicing’ loans that they did not take.

    This was followed by the arrest of two men who were busted at a cyber cafe located in Ngara, along Desai road, with 450 genuine motor vehicle logbooks. At the cyber, an application for a logbook would take a few hours before it was delivered from an insider at NTSA while other Kenyans waited for their documents for months.

    The mastermind of the syndicate would also illegally develop affidavits and commission them, before sending them to their contacts at NTSA for forced transfer of motor vehicles. In a matter of minutes, the transfer of a motor vehicle would be finalized exposing the possibility of one’s vehicle being transferred without their knowledge.

    This among other complains from frustrated Kenyans cast the National Transport and Safety Authority on the spot, prompting the ongoing probe sanctioned by the DCI Director, Mr Mohamed Amin.

    Recently the Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary visited NTSA headquarters where he assured Kenyans that sanity would be restored at the agency.

    Meanwhile, members of the public are cautioned to be wary of brokers who obtain money from them in the pretext of expediting the processing of motor vehicle logbooks, reflective plates and driving licenses. Instead, they are advised to make use of the TIM portal.

  • NTSA Boss Njao Accused Of Disregarding The Board And Forcing Himself Back Into Office

    NTSA Boss Njao Accused Of Disregarding The Board And Forcing Himself Back Into Office

    Road Safety Association of Kenya has sued the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) board over speedy and unprocedural return of Mr George Njao, the director-general as the director of the authority.

    Mr. Njao was last month sent packing after the served him with a 30 days’ compulsory leave of 30 days and appointed Cosmas Ngeso as the acting DG. Njau however sneaked back to office days later.

    According to the suit filed by the association in May 8 seeking to bar the agency’s boss from staying in office, Njao with impunity, disregarded the board’s letter and forcefully returned to office.

    Kenya Insights has established that the embattled NTSA boss’s three-year contract with the body had lapsed in October 2022, he had however sought for a court to block the board from advertising the position as he sought to extend stay in office. His stay in office has been marred with allegations of financial irregularities including tender fraud.

    The NTSA Act says: “The director-general shall be appointed for a term of three years and shall be eligible for reappointment for one further term.”

    “Mr Njao’s tenure has been marred by extreme incompetence, which compelled lobby groups to institute legal proceedings to compel the authority to do its work,” said Mr Were in his affidavit.

    “Mr Njao has further been clogged with selfish interests during his tenure, which caused him to commandeer an award of the integration process of speed governors to the authority’s servers to a company with vested interests among its peers in the speed limiters business, which has enabled the said company to eliminate its competitors from the business,” he added.

    He further noted: “Mr Njao has overseen the introduction of digitisation of inspection stickers in an irregular manner with an aim of evading enforcement of inspection by the traffic police. Introduction of digitised inspection stickers without causing them to be displayed on the vehicles’ windscreens only facilitates uninspected vehicles to fly under the traffic police radars.”

    In January this year, the High Court ordered the NTSA board to recruit a new Director General and not to extend the term Njao pending determination of a petition.

    Petitioner Edwin Were had moved to court to block the planned renewal of Njao’s term which expired in October. He was appointed for a term of three years back in 2019.

    Were said Njao had applied to have his contract extended for a further three years and thus sought to have NTSA and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen blocked from accepting his application for term extension.

    In orders issued on January 5, Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Byram Ongaya granted the prayers sought and directed NTSA board to proceed with the recruitment of a new director general pending further orders on January 19.

    “The respondent (NTSA board) is at liberty to recruit a qualified person to fill the accruing vacancy in strict compliance with Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya on integrity and leadership,” Justice Ongaya said.

    He certified the petition urgent.

    The NTSA board is listed as the first respondent, while the Transport CS is the second respondent. Njao is listed as an interested party.

    The petitioner had claimed Njao has not delivered during his three-year tenure as director general and that there was deliberate mismanagement and delinquency that occasioned the deaths of thousands of Kenyans through road carnage, which could have been avoided if he offered proper leadership.

    More than 4,000 people lost their lives as a result of road crashes in the first 11 months of 2022, with NTSA data showing 19,285 victims were involved in road accidents between January and November 30, 2022.

    Fatalities stood at 4,248, while some 8,756 victims sustained serious injuries. Another 6,281 victims were slightly injured.

    The authority said road accidents cause losses of more than Sh310billion annually.

    “Njao’s tenure has also been marred with extreme incompetence, which compelled lobbyists to institute legal proceedings to compel the authority to do its work,” Were said in his affidavit.

    He accused the NTSA director general of deliberately refusing to set up the servers for monitoring speed governors as required by the standard till a petition was filed in court to compel him to do his job.

    The petitioner also alleges that Njao has been clogged with selfish interests, which caused him to commandeer an award of the integration process of speed governors to the authority servers to a company with vested interests along with its peers in the speed limiters business

    He said the reappointment of the NTSA boss is unsustainable in a country that professes the rule of law, constitutionalism and good governance as some of its pillars of values and principles.

    “Another chance for him as director-general of the authority would only aggravate the already sorry state of its performance and functionality he has already destroyed, deliberately diminished and driven the authority from its noble objectives and functions which it was established for,” he said.

    Were further claims that Njao has failed to put up mechanisms to ensure the authority inspection reports are properly done and implemented and he has turned the authority into a one-man affair by failing to appoint a director of road safety as provided for in the NTSA.

    He claims it was during the director general’s tenure that the country saw written-off motor vehicles passing inspection and recommended for road use, despite being unroadworthy.

    Were also said it’s during Njao’s term that the agency issued driving licences to untrained individuals and fake number plates.