NTSA Boss Pledges Review of Second Generation Driving Licence Deal After MPs Raise Concerns

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has promised to review its 21-year smart driving licence production deal following an uproar from members of parliament.

Appearing before the National Assembly’s Public Debt and Privatisation Committee on Thursday, April 9, NTSA Director General Nashon Kondiwa acknowledged growing concerns about the agreement and pledged to review its structure following intense scrutiny by the lawmakers.

The deal, signed between NTSA and a private consortium led by PesaPrint, yesterday drew sharp criticism for what the lawmakers described as an unfair revenue-sharing model.

Under the current framework, private partners are expected to take approximately 77 per cent of projected revenues, leaving the government with less than a quarter during the contract period.

The Committee chairperson, Abdi Shurie, led members in questioning the fairness and transparency of the deal, with several MPs terming it grossly unfair and contrary to public interest.

“This is a PPP that is so unfair to the public and so fair to the private part of the equation. Over 21 years, projected revenues are about Ksh900 billion against costs of Ksh300 billion, that is a 300 per cent profit,” Shurie argued.

“Who in their right mind negotiates away revenue from the Kenyan public? Seventy-seven per cent going to a private entity for 21 years makes no sense,” Hon. Daudi added.

Kondiwa defended the move to a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, attributing the move to persistent funding constraints from the National Treasury.

“We were clearly disadvantaged in terms of ability to negotiate because we are not even negotiating our own money; we are negotiating our services and the revenue is going elsewhere,” Kondiwa told MPs.

He explained that under the previous fully government-funded system, NTSA struggled to meet demand, issuing only 2.7 million licences over nearly a decade, far below its five million target.

The consortium behind the deal reportedly includes one of the leading banks in the country, which took up the deal after it acquired one of the oldest banks in the country, with MPs questioning why the deal, which is comparable to ID production, was left to private entities.

In response to the uproar, Kondiwa admitted that NTSA may have been at a disadvantage during negotiations and pledged to review the agreement’s architecture.

He assured the committee that stakeholders would be re-engaged and that necessary adjustments would be considered-Kenyans.co.ke.