Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on Tuesday, July 11, halted the mandatory retesting of Public Service Vehicles (PSV) until September 1, 2023.
In a statement, the CS noted that the stakeholders agreed on the formation of a multi-agency committee tasked with reviewing the grievances raised by PSV drivers and conductors.
They also agreed that the names of officials representing all the industry players would be submitted by August 1, 2023.
"Towards this end, the Ministry and the stakeholders have agreed on the formation of a multi-agency committee that will among others review the grievances raised by the drivers and conductors, a copy of which has been submitted to my office today 11th July 2023 at 3.00pm.
"We have agreed as well that they shall submit the names of the officials representing ALL the industry players by 1st August 2023. The exercise will take 14 days and the report with recommendations submitted for further decision-making," read the statement in part.
"Taking note of the above, I hereby halt the retesting of drivers until 1st September 2023 to give the multi-agency committee time to address the rising concerns," Murkomen added.
The CS noted that his Ministry adopted the retesting of drivers to reduce the rising number of road traffic fatalities in the country, which consistently increased every year between 2017 to 2022.
According to the data, fatalities in 2017 were estimated to be 2,919 compared to 2022 where 4,690 deaths were recorded. In 2023, 2,318 fatalities have been recorded since January.
Following the worrying statistics, Murkomen noted that his Ministry implemented a number of measures in the Traffic Act to curb the vice, which involved mandatory retesting.
"The re-test was only reserved for commercial and public service vehicle drivers and is a pre-requisite for renewal of driving licences with class endorsement(s); B3, D1, D2, D3, C, C1, CE and CD," the statement read in part.
Driver Retesting Process
Since the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) began retesting motorists, 1,847 PSV drivers completed the exam with a 31 per cent average pass rate.
This mainly involved re-testing of public service vehicle drivers including those operating school buses. In Nairobi, 297 drivers passed the test while 581 did not meet the requisite threshold.
In Mombasa County, 80 drivers achieved the pass rate while 70 failed. 50 PSV drivers in Thika successfully completed the process while 179 failed.
The announcement came hours before the nationwide strike announced by PSVs, long-distance transport services as well as taxi-hailing drivers.
Among the grievances stipulated by the stakeholders involved the suspension of NTSA's retesting procedure.
