Win for driving schools as court suspends NTSA rules
An instructor during a driving lesson. The bid by NTSA to take over the training and testing of drivers from driving schools has suffered a blow after a court rejected its new traffic law.
The bid by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to take over the training and testing of drivers from driving schools has suffered a blow after a court rejected its new traffic law.
The High Court in Nairobi has suspended the implementation of the Traffic (Driving Schools, Driving Instructors and Driving Licences) Rules 2020 pending reconsideration by the two Houses of Parliament.
Justice Anthony Mrima directed Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia to refer the new rules to the Speakers of the Senate and National Assembly within 14 days for deliberation before they are approved and gazetted.
“In view of the remainder of the terms of the Houses of Parliament, the respective Speakers of Parliament shall take steps to ensure that the Traffic Rules 2020 are expeditiously dealt with by the two Houses,” the order said.
If legislators are unable to finalise debating the rules within the remainder of their term, the rules will be discussed after the August elections.
The contentious traffic rules, gazetted by the government in 2020, sought to have driving school instructors reapply afresh for licences for Sh30,000.
The regulations also sought to delink driving tests from the Kenya police and have NTSA officers examine the students.
No public participation
But the driving school owners association moved to court to challenge the rules on the grounds that they were punitive and adopted without proper public participation.
In the case filed in August 2020, driving school owners sought to stop their implementation and have them declared unconstitutional.
In an affidavit sworn by the association’s chairman, Mr Samuel Kariuki Kamau, the group argued that their views had not been sought and the rules risked driving them out of business.
Mr Kamau noted that his efforts to engage the NTSA over the matter were futile.
“The association being a major stakeholder and consumer of the rules should have been consulted by way of memorandum in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution,” he noted.
The group says the new rules are a recipe for chaos in the industry as they may result in the closure of driving schools and loss of jobs.
In the case, the petitioners sued the NTSA, Transport CS, Attorney-General and Inspector General of Police.
