The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) is facing renewed pressure to address persistent delays in the production of vehicle number plates, with lawmakers demanding urgent measures to clear the growing backlog affecting motorists across the country.
Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu has asked the Senate Committee on Roads to investigate the delays and explain what the authority is doing to increase its production capacity and speed up the issuance of the new-generation number plates.
The request, tabled in the Senate on Wednesday, also seeks details on whether NTSA plans to modernise or decentralise the production and distribution of number plates to reduce waiting times.
Nyutu wants the committee to provide the number of pending applications as of July 1, 2026, including a breakdown by county, vehicle category and the length of time applicants have been waiting.
He has also sought an update on the procurement of raw materials and other supplies needed for manufacturing the number plates.
The senator explained that numerous motorists have complied with all the regulations regarding registration, and paid the necessary fees, yet they keep waiting for months for their number plates to be issued.
These delays have led to frustrations from the vehicle owners, who are complaining of waiting for more than two months even after registering their vehicles.
Apart from the inconveniences that have been caused by the delays, motorists have been exposed to legal problems since it is illegal to drive without number plates as per the Traffic Act.
This new problem comes just weeks after the NTSA Director General, Nashon Kondiwa, confessed that his organization is facing challenges with the printing of over 30,000 number plates that had already been paid for.
Speaking during a television interview in June, Kondiwa attributed the delays to funding constraints and operational challenges that have affected the authority since the beginning of the year.
NTSA has been able to print around 5,000 number plates in the past three months, he added, in an effort to ease the backlog, though he conceded that the process had impacted the agency’s financial flow.
He was however convinced that the authority would continue sorting out the backlogs despite the increasing pressure exerted by motorists and members of Parliament for a more permanent solution to the problem.
It now falls on the Senate committee to analyze the situation and indicate what NTSA ought to do.