All driving schools to be registered afresh

The Government plans to withdraw licenses for all driving schools, and ask them to register afresh.

According to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), the move is aimed at weeding out rogue operators.

NTSA has now summoned a meeting with all driving schools to deliberate on the way forward.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i will chair the meeting to be held tomorrow, when the drastic announcement is expected to be made.

An inter-agency task-force will be established to oversee a fresh registration exercise.

The decision is also partly a result of a High Court ruling quashing an earlier proposed curriculum by NTSA that the schools ought to follow.

The driving schools had moved to court last year to challenge a proposed curriculum for training and testing of drivers by NTSA.

Officials now plan to issue new directives to register all the schools afresh, so that only qualified institutions remain in business.

“We have to be firm on driving schools. Our proposal is to de-register all of them, and have them register afresh, so that we know who is qualified to run a driving school,” said an official at NTSA.

New rules will be read out in the meeting and will set the tempo for the de-registration exercise.

For instance, to get a new driving license, one will have to fulfill certain conditions, including a medical check-up.

Each driving school will also be required to own not less than 1.7 acres upon which it must develop proper training facilities.

The school will be required to have a model highway, a well-equipped ICT centre and a certified management structure.

A source at the Office of the President said the Government had agreed on how to move forward on the issue, and that this would mark a new beginning.

Mr Matiang’i has told NTSA to be firm in implementing its mandate.

"Our statistics on road accidents does not reflect the number of roadworthy vehicles currently registered in our systems," said Dr Matiang'i.

"These discrepancies imply that there could be many unroadworthy vehicles operating after passing our inspection tests irregularly.”