Activist Omtatah challenges new regulations for driving schools

An activist has challenged new regulations for driving schools and public service vehicles.

Okiya Omtatah argued in his petition filed at the High Court that some of the new rules proposed by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) were unreasonable, cannot be implemented, and are only meant to benefit a few individuals who want to drive their competitors out of the market.

“There are no provisions in law to support the new policies being fronted by NTSA. They have not even taken measures to cushion driving schools and PSV operators, who will suffer massive losses resulting from imposing the illegal policy documents,” said Omtatah.

The activist was aggrieved with several provisions in the new guidelines, which he claimed were passed without public participation and would kill the public transport industry and drive many driving schools out of business.

He submitted that the requirement that all driving schools own not less than 1.7 acres of land to develop facilities and infrastructure of a model highway cannot be implemented by most of them and was only meant to harass the operators.

“It is not fair to make it mandatory for driving schools to have classrooms equipped with ICT teaching aids and for them to have management structures to include school managers and directors of studies, like other educational institutions,” said Omtatah.

The contested provisions are contained in the Traffic (Driving Schools and Instructors) Rules, 2017, and have yet to be published in the Kenya Gazette.

Omtatah argued that using the rules to vet driving schools and PSV operators even before they were gazetted amounted to discrimination and harassment. He also contested the decision to close the online portal for the schools and PSV operators.

He accused NTSA of making rush decisions whenever there was a road accident, including punishing innocent driving schools, which he said were not the cause of the accidents.

“NTSA went ahead to reconfigure its online portal by removing the old curriculum and uploading a new one. Many driving schools are now facing imminent collapse because they cannot access officers to conduct driving tests,” said Omtatah.

He submitted that it was only through the online portals that driving schools could register new students, file test application forms to book driving tests, and apply for certificates and driving licences, and that disabling the portals was technically aimed at grounding the schools.

On the requirement that all PSV drivers undergo fresh test drives, the activist submitted that NTSA had no test centres and no qualified officers to conduct the tests as only traffic police officers had the knowledge and skills to carry them out. He wants the court to stop NTSA from implementing the new traffic provisions for driving schools and testing of PSV drivers.