Cars with old South Sudan plates to be seized next week

Cars bearing old South Sudanese number plates on Kenyan roads will be impounded starting next Wednesday after the transport regulator issued a deadline for new registrations.

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) issued a December 13 ultimatum for the vehicles to be registered afresh.

Juba nullified number plate series starting with CE, EE, SSJS, UNS, WS and NBGS, replacing them with nationalised country code SSD.

“Implementation of the new registration series begins from December 13,” said NTSA director-general Francis Meja in a notice last week.

“All parties concerned should ensure that they acquire the new number plates from the Government of South Sudan before the end of the deadline.”

READ: Govt to impound cars bearing old S.Sudan plates

Luxury vehicles bearing South Sudanese number plates are common on Kenyan roads as many of its nationals reside and do business in the country.

The taxman only allows transit vehicles cleared by the Customs and those licensed to transit goods through Kenya to bear foreign number plates as well as imported cars on a temporary basis, usually valid for a year.