Court temporarily halts NTSA smart driving licence, instant fine system
By Zipporah Ngwatu, June 6, 2026A Kerugoya High Court has temporarily halted the implementation of the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) smart driving licence and automated traffic fine system until a petition filed challenging the project is heard and determined.
Judge Magare Dennis Kizito on May 29, 2026, issued the conservatory order restraining NTSA from proceeding with the public-private partnership between them (NTSA) and Pesa Print Limited.
“A conservatory order is issued suspending the implementation of the public-private partnership between the National Transport and Safety Authority and the Pesa Print Limited consortium in respect of the design, supply, delivery, installation and maintenance of smart driving licences, the automated fines system and associated services pending an inter partes hearing of the application by way of notice of motion,” Judge Kizito ordered.
On February 25, 2026, NTSA published a public notice captioned “Disclosure on the Implementation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Strategic Partnership for the Design, Supply, Delivery, Installation and Maintenance of Smart Driving Licences and Associated Services” on various platforms, among them its X handle, @ntsa_kenya.
According to the petition filed, the notice stated that NTSA, in collaboration with KCB Bank Limited and Pesa Print Limited, seeks to implement a public-private partnership that entails the modernisation of driver licensing systems through the design, personalisation, delivery, distribution, and issuance of second-generation smart driving licences, as well as the deployment, implementation, and operationalisation of instant fine infrastructure.
Further, the petitioner avers that NTSA, through a press statement dated May 28, 2026, announced that it would operationalise a modernised enforcement framework for minor offences (instant fines system), a key component of the impugned public-private partnership, effective June 1, 2026.
In seeking the conservatory order, the petitioner cited that the said project violates the Constitution and other statutory provisions, adding that the project does not have a data protection framework despite biometric data, which is collected in the processing of driving licences, being sensitive personal data.
“Unless the implementation of the project is suspended pending the hearing and determination of the application and the petition, there will be irreparable harm in the form of the erosion of constitutional values and principles, the normalisation of illegalities and the infringement of the right to privacy, hence eroding the substratum of the petition,” part of the application reads.
The matter will be mentioned on June 21, 2026, for further directions.