Roads and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen made an impromptu visit to NTSA Headquaters on Friday afternoon.
The CS was however disappointed to find that there were still long queues of Kenyans citizens who were waiting to be receive their driving licenses yet he had earlier directed NTSA to process over 50,000 driving licenses, logbooks and digital number plates that were pending in two weeks.
“Kutoka saa tano mpaka saa hii,” one of the citizens complained to the cabinet secretary.
“NTSA is supposed to be one of the most digitized institution but mambo kwa ground is different in the sense that we cannot really follow who served who, at what time, why there’s a delay, why the number plate is not given on time,” said Murkomen while at the NTSA premises.
Through a tweet, Murkomen shared the plight of a Mombasa resident who was yet to receive his digital number plate since submitting application in March.
“While at NTSA Headquarters in Upper Hill this afternoon, I spoke to Maurice, a customer based in Mombasa, who has been waiting for his digital number plate for a while now. Despite the number plate being ready for collection and a notification sent to him from NTSA – Nairobi confirming the same, unnecessary bureaucratic processes and red tapes have led to delays in dispatching the number plate,” the CS’s tweet read in part.
He further directed NTSA to move with speed so that Maurice can get his digital number plate as well as the rest of Kenyans who had pending services at the authority.
While at NTSA Headquarters in Upper Hill this afternoon, I spoke to Maurice, a customer based in Mombasa, who has been waiting for his digital number plate for a while now.
Despite the number plate being ready for collection and a notification sent to him from NTSA – Nairobi… pic.twitter.com/4tkvcXVvpe
— KIPCHUMBA MURKOMEN, E.G.H (@kipmurkomen) September 22, 2023
Murkomen further said that there are almost 200-300 thousands .pending applications at NTSA. According to him, the backlog is as a result of lack of accountability and transparency.
“I am going to ask from the management a written explanation on entirely all the processes and all the things we saw today because we were here with the director general and the senior management,” he said
He also said that he was going to summon the printer at Likoni to print all the remaining 50,000 driving licenses within the next two weeks and he will be making an announcement to the entire country for everybody to pick their driving license for as long as they have submitted their applications.
It is disheartening to see Kenyans inconvenienced, suffer, and even lose job opportunities due to lack of driving licences caused by artificial delays in processing and issuance of Driving Licences.
During my impromptu visit of NTSA Inspection Centre in Likoni Road and the… pic.twitter.com/ZV68Ia7Wvs
— KIPCHUMBA MURKOMEN, E.G.H (@kipmurkomen) September 22, 2023