The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) on Thursday, July 14 announced a special offer allowing Kenyans to replace their old driving licence and acquire the Smart Driving License at the Kenya International Conference Centre (KICC).
According to the transport regulator, the offer is part of the Africa Mashariki Transport Award, which seek to award different best players in the transport sector. The exercise kicked off on Wednesday, July 13, and will be closed on Friday, July at 4 pm.
The exhibition makes it convenient for motorists who wish to get the document that has normally been presented through the NTSA portal and the Citizen platform. NTSA has also been issuing smart driving licenses since 2019 through Huduma Centres across the country.
Drivers were advised to carry their original identification documents and visit the KICC. NTSA will then help them with the booking, and the biometric capture process.
The facilitation will be free but the Smart Driving License will cost Ksh3,050 and it will be valid for three years. If the license gets lost the same amount will apply to get a replacement.
The three-day exercise is part of the agency’s plan to encourage many drivers to replace their driving licenses with smart ones. The digital replacements have a chip that stores the driver's biometric information.
The new move to bring smart driving licenses will be important to bring sanity to the roads, especially at the time when the country is experiencing a lot of accidents that have been caused by human errors.
In case of traffic offences, the information will be captured on the chip and will also be shared with insurance firms to help calculate premium services.
The Smart Driving License will also help to achieve better management and security of Kenya’s transport system, which serves as a backbone of trade and investment for Kenya and the entire East African region.
NTSA estimates that close to five million registered drivers in Kenya will be hosted on the digital platform when the government completes phasing out the old license.
The increase in the use of Smart Driving License shows how the government and the World Bank are trying to improve transport services to improve the quality of transport in Kenya.
Apart from the issuance of licenses, the KICC expo will have exhibitions from the players in the transport industry as well as an interactive session with key stakeholders such as the Office of the President, Ministry of Transport, National Police Service Commission, The Judiciary, Oil Marketers, Airline representatives, Logistics/ Haulier companies, Telcos, vehicle manufacturers, matatu and Boda Boda Association and members of the public among others.
