Buyer beware: The trendy number plate may land you in jail

Motorists attracted by the stylish number plate designs being sold in Nairobi face fines and jail terms for fitting unauthorised registration plates on their vehicles.

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) says there has been increased circulation of new number plate designs with unique fonts, obtained from unauthorised sources by motorists seeking to stand out.

The makers of the “trendy” plates target high-end vehicle owners and have even made some for government vehicles, a boon for fake plate makers.

The Sunday Nation has established that unlike the regular makers of duplicate number plates operating in downtown Nairobi, the makers of the fakes are based in Parklands, Kilimani and high-end offices in Nairobi.

The plates are made using sophisticated machines, some of which are imported, in an effort to push the Kenya Prisons Service to supply the new-generation number plates.

The fake number plates point to a security lapse in the vehicle identity system. NTSA director-general George Njao has warned motorists of prosecution if found with them.

Prosecution

“The authority’s attention is drawn to the widespread violation of Rule 5(a) of the Traffic (Registration Plates) Rules 2016 as evidenced by the large number of vehicles using registration plates not issued by the authority. It is further observed that such registration plates are not of the prescribed design contrary to Section 12(1) of the Traffic Act. Motor vehicle and motorcycle owners are advised, with immediate effect, to cease the use of these unauthorised registration plates, failure to which will result in prosecution,” Mr Njao wrote.

The law prohibits anyone from making or selling number plates. Genuine plates are made under tight security at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Nairobi.

The law prescribes the design and colour as well as material on which a number plate is to be inscribed, with any modification punishable with fines of up to Sh10,000 or imprisonment of six months or both.

But the makers of the fakes have adopted the exact design that was approved for use in the new-generation number plates, which have been frozen by various business interests.

The design adds to the concerns that machines may have been imported for supply to the Kenya Prisons to print the new-generation number plates before the process was frozen by the courts.

Last year, former NTSA director general Francis Meja hinted at a plan to allow local manufacturers to supply the new plates in a multibillion-shilling deal that ruffled some business interests.

Mr Meja said the new number plate samples had been circulated to the local manufacturers to find out whether they could deliver, and this was to be followed up with tendering for the project which has been on the cards for years.

Support local manufacturing

“We do not see any reason to give the deal to a foreign firm since there is a need to support local manufacturing. Once we have verified that they can deliver what we are looking for, then we will proceed to tender. We believe that local institutions have requisite capacity to produce quality plates that meet international standards,” Mr Meja said.

The journey to give Kenyan motorists the new number plates has been marred by tender wars, including a previous bids by the Prisons department that crumbled in court disputes between two firms interested in the Sh2 billion deal.

The latest legal hurdle emerged in September after activist Okiya Omtatah sought a freeze on tendering for the supply of the new plates arguing that there would be loss of taxpayers’ money as there are machines procured for the same job at Kamiti.

Initially, the tender wars pitted Uganda-based MIG International, which was awarded the y deal, alongside Germany’s Hoffman International and the Public Procurement Administrative and Review Board (PPARB) , which annulled the tender following an appeal by Tropical Technologies.

The rollout of new number plates, which was set for July 2017, together with the radio frequency identification microchip stickers on the windscreens, failed to take off, forcing NTSA to only issue the stickers and slowing down the process of making Kenya’s vehicle identity digital.

The current easy-to-duplicate number plates system was adopted in 1989. The new generation number plates were expected to bear anti-counterfeit features that include holograms, watermarks, and laser markers which, if implemented, would provide the necessary checks that work against double registration of cars.

Fake number plates are also used to evade billions in tax as vehicles meant for transit are dumped into the local market and given the fake number plates

NTSA was also alarmed by motorcycles using papers with registration numbers printed on them, adding to the risk of being used in criminal activities and quickly replaced with different registration details.

@Edwincowino. [email protected]