State begins crackdown on fake vehicle number plates
Roadblock on Kitale-Endebes road during a crackdown on vehicles with foreign number plates in Trans Nzoia County on January 12, 2022.
The government has launched a crackdown on motor vehicles with fake and foreign number plates.
Trans Nzoia County Commissioner Samson Ojwang said a multisectoral team will engage village elders and the public to track down vehicles with fake number plates and those using fake diplomatic registration numbers.
Some of the vehicles, he said, were being used to commit crime such as human trafficking and transportation of narcotics.
He was speaking after chairing a strategy meeting that brought together administrators, the police, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).
"Terror groups are using vehicles with fake number plates to execute their missions while dealers in narcotics use invalid number plates. We are moving the crackdown to villages to end the vice," he said.
The operation, he said, will see roadblocks erected on all major roads. Mr James Nyariki, from KRA said tax evasion has risen in Kenya.
“The government has lost a lot of revenue due to tax evasion, the crackdown will establish the amount of money we have been losing," said Mr Nyariki.
NTSA co-ordinator Cyprian Michieka said the swoop will help ascertain the number of vehicles with invalid registration numbers.
At the same time, Mr Ojwang said Trans Nzoia is one of the counties with porous borders and has a high number of vehicles with foreign registration numbers.
"Some people are illegally using vehicles with Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania registration numbers and this denies the government revenue.
"Some dishonest Kenyans have fixed number plates of written-off vehicles to evade paying taxes and some use fake vehicle number plates to perpetrate crime," he said.
