Reinstating of road license will help reduce cases of selling and operation of stolen motor vehicles in the country. While reading the budget statement for the financial year 2012/13, Finance minister Njeru Githae said the recent removal of road license as a requirement had posed challenges to establishment of actual number of motor vehicles on the road at anytime, record of their registration details, and ownership identification.

To address these challenges, the minister proposed to reinstate motor vehicle road license where the motor vehicle owner will be required to apply for the annual license from the Registrar of Motor vehicle with the original registration certificate.

Free

The license which used to be acquired at a fee will be provided at no cost, Githae said. The new measure is expected to facilitate the law enforcement agencies to monitor and ensure only vehicles that are legitimately owned are allowed on the road at any one time.

Cases of stolen motor vehicles operating on the roads with duplicate license plates had been on the increase the police department and Kenya Revenue Authority has been at pains trying to track down the illegitimate cars on the roads. Many Kenyans have lost millions of shillings in stolen motor vehicles.

In May, Kenya Revenue Authority said that there were about 1000 cars in the country which had not been cleared by the tax authority to be in the country.