It had been presented as a measure to improve road safety. For many citizens, however, it represented above all a new levy in a country already burdened by taxes and price rises. Now the Senate has put a stop to the new regulations from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), scrapping the requirement for an annual roadworthiness test for private cars over four years old.
On the one hand, therefore, it is a shame that we will no longer see wrecks and unstable, dangerous vehicles on roads already burdened by thousands of accidents a year; on the other hand, given the usual suspicions that such a reform would be rendered pointless if it fell prey to corruption, it comes as a relief.
Ultimately, the decision represents a victory for motorists, who in recent weeks had expressed serious concern about what would have been a new fixed annual cost to bear, on top of insurance, routine maintenance, tolls and the constant rises in the cost of living.
The regulations, introduced by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), stipulated that all private cars more than four years old from the date of manufacture would be subject to an annual inspection at authorised centres, with a special sticker to be displayed on the windscreen. The estimated cost was around 2,000 shillings per inspection, including booking and the inspection itself.
However, the measure had faced strong opposition from the outset. Many MPs and motorists’ organisations had contested both the mandatory frequency of the inspections and the lack of a clear technical justification demonstrating the need for annual checks on all private cars. The High Court had also intervened by temporarily suspending its implementation, whilst the NTSA itself had already put roadside checks on hold pending clarification.
According to the report by the Senate committee that examined the regulation, the NTSA had failed to provide sufficient justification or adequate impact assessments for introducing such a far-reaching requirement, and the committee therefore recommended its repeal.
For motorists, this decision averts – at least for the time being – what many had already dubbed ‘the annual MOT tax’. Mandatory inspections, however, remain in force for commercial vehicles, buses, school buses and other categories of vehicles already subject to periodic technical inspections.
This case demonstrates once again just how delicate the balance is between road safety and the tax burden. Whilst no one questions the need to take dangerous vehicles off the road, imposing an indiscriminate annual charge on millions of private car owners, at a time of severe economic hardship, appeared to many to be a disproportionate measure.
For Italians living in Kenya and for those who use a car in the country, the decision means that it will not be necessary to have their vehicle undergo an annual roadworthiness test simply because it is over four years old, barring any new legislative or regulatory initiatives in the coming months.