The National Transport and Safety Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which is at the public participation stage, proposes a formal system that could allow passengers to check safety compliance of public service vehicles such as matatus and buses.
The Bill defines conformity assessment as an evaluation to confirm that a vehicle meets specific technical requirements, and it would license conformity assessors to verify that design, manufacture and installation of PSV bodies comply with those standards.
While the legislation does not obligate the NTSA to create a passenger-facing verification platform, it opens the possibility of making compliance information publicly accessible.
In a submission to the Senate committee on roads chaired by Marsabit legislator Mohamed Chute, petitioner Juma Patrick Kurwa urged the introduction of a system where travellers could enter or scan a vehicle’s registration number to confirm a valid conformity assessment and other regulatory approvals.
“For example, a passenger should be able to enter or scan a vehicle's registration number and establish whether the vehicle has a valid conformity assessment and other relevant regulatory approvals,” said Kurwa.
Kurwa added that such a system could be delivered through an application, USSD, website or SMS, giving passengers a simple way to check a vehicle’s regulatory status before travel.
The Bill empowers the NTSA to prescribe assessment criteria, to designate conformity assessors every three years and to conduct periodic audits of those assessors.
Assessors would be required to operate independently of any business involved in the design, manufacture, supply, installation, purchase, ownership or maintenance of the components they inspect, and the NTSA would have to ensure no links exist before issuing licences that last three years.
The memorandum of objects notes that no specific legal provision currently regulates PSV assessments, which are presently carried out by the Kenya Association of Bus Manufacturers, whose members include vehicle owners, creating a potential conflict of interest.
The passenger submission also calls for a certificate that reflects an actual safety assessment rather than mere paperwork and for an accessible complaints mechanism to report structural defects, unsafe doors, defective safety equipment, overcrowding or suspected improper certification.
Under the proposed framework, assessors would submit technical reports to the NTSA after each assessment, creating a regulatory record that could support greater transparency in the PSV sector.
