Reprieve for driving schools, drivers as court suspends NTSA vetting
Youths push a truck belonging to Wings Driving School off the road after it developed mechanical problems at Pangani, Nairobi, September 5, 2016. FILE PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG
NTSA had published public notices on its website and local dailies announcing a scheduled vetting.
Among the issues contained in the notice are that each driving school should own not less than 1.7 acres of land.
The school is required to develop facilities on the land, including a model highway, a well-equipped ICT teaching aids classroom with computers and projectors, as well as a management structure.
Driving schools and public service vehicle drivers will not be required to submit themselves for vetting after a court suspended the directive by the roads safety agency NTSA.
High Court Judge George Odunga suspended the proposed curriculum for training and testing of drivers, pending hearing and determination of a case filed by Okiya Omtatah.
The judge further barred the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Transport ministry from disabling passwords of the driving schools on the e-citizen portal.
“No prejudice will be suffered if the orders are granted. I hereby temporarily suspend the curriculum pending further orders,” the judge said in his ruling.
NTSA had published public notices on its website and local dailies announcing a scheduled vetting.
Among the issues contained in the notice are that each driving school should own not less than 1.7 acres of land.
The school is required to develop facilities on the land, including a model highway, a well-equipped ICT teaching aids classroom with computers and projectors, as well as a management structure.
The agency warned that failure to comply within the 14 days from March 20, would result in the automatic cancellation of the licences.
Against public interest
But Mr Omtatah moved to court arguing that the Traffic (Driving Schools & Instructors) Rules 2017 are against public interest and cannot be implemented by most schools because of the new demands.
He said the rules were made without effective public participation, which according to him is tantamount to harassing the driving schools and operators of public vehicles.
Mr Omtatah argued that NTSA was making knee-jerk reactions whenever there is a public outcry over increased accidents on the roads.
He also argued that the agency does not have the capacity in law to test drivers since they do not have gazetted test centres or officers to do the job.
The activist also argued that it is practically impossible for driving schools to implement the requirements of the new curriculum at once.
In effect, the imposition of the new curriculum has meant that most driving schools across the country have not transacted business since 29th December 2017, he said.
On Wednesday, the NTSA had asked the court to allow them negotiate with Mr Omtatah with a view of settling the matter out of court.
The agency admitted that there was an issue it wanted to correct in the notice.
The judge directed the case be heard on April 30.
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