Ranked among the busiest roads continent-wide, Kenyan highways are populated by different vehicles that require separate approvals by the concerned agencies.
As a result, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) deemed it fit on October 17, 2011, to assign unique prefixes for tractors, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, heavy machinery, and tractors for easier and faster identification.
When National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) was established on October 26, 2012, it followed KRA's decision to only recognise certain prefixes as legal number plates.
Serialisation of number plates is done to ensure order and segmentation of different types of vehicles on Kenyan roads.
Prefixes
There are different number plate prefixes for different types of vehicles.
Tractors bear the number plate KTCA which stands for Kenya Tractors while the A shows the first alphabet in the series.
KTWA, on the other hand, was designed to cater for tricycles such as tuk-tuks with the first three abbreviations standing for Kenya Three-Wheelers.
KHMA is a special plate design for heavy machinery and it means Kenya Heavy Machinery.
KMCA is for motorcycles and it means Kenya Motorcycles.
GK is a prefix used for government vehicles with its initials standing for Government of Kenya.
CG is used to identify cars used by County Governments officials. For example, Mombasa is ‘01 CG’.
Parastatals, on the other hand, are differentiated by blue number plates and white letters.
The Kenya Defence Forces have their own prefixes for the three different branches that make up KDF. The Kenya Army's prefix is KA, the Kenya Navy's prefix is KN, and the Kenya Air Force's prefix is KAF. They are usually written on a black surface with white letters.
Constitutional office holders also have special registration number plates. They include; the Speaker of the National Assembly whose car is registered as SNA, the Speaker of the Senate is SS, the Chief Justice CJ, and Governors GVN.
Diplomats have a red number plate with white letters. The serialisation is in order of countries which recognised Kenya’s independence followed by CD. The first country to recognise the independence of Kenya is West Germany, thus, the German embassy holds the number '1 CD'.
CD stands for ‘Corps Diplomatique’. It is a prefix used for organisations with diplomatic privileges.
New Number Plates
In January 2022, former Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Matiang’I unveiled new number plates. They include:
KG stands for Kenya Garage and is used by garages and car dealers.
KC stands for Kenya Containers and is used by Container Freight Stations (CFS).
KT stands for Kenya Towing and is used by towing companies.
KG, KC, and KT number plates are green in colour.
Trailers have number plates that start with the letter 'Z'. Trailers are unpowered vehicles that are towed by another powered vehicle.
In 2022, the Jubilee administration led by former President Uhuru Kenyatta launched new number plates featuring an electronic chip. They also have a watermark, a Kenyan flag, a hologram, and a serial number linked to the vehicle’s chassis number.
