The High Court has frozen the government’s planned rollout of a new smart driving license and automated traffic fines system by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), just days after it went live countrywide.
Justice Dennis Kizito of the High Court in Kerugoya issued conservatory orders on May 29, 2026, suspending a 21-year public-private partnership between the NTSA and Pesa Print Limited.
The June 1 launch date has now been shelved until the court hears the full case, with the next mention scheduled for June 21. The petition was filed by the Road Safety Association of Kenya, which raised several complaints about how the deal was structured and awarded.
READ: How To Watch Your Speed and Avoid New NTSA Fines
At the center of the case is Pesa Print Limited itself. The petitioners argue the company should not have been awarded the contract at all, pointing to a previous smart driving license deal involving Pesa Print and the National Bank of Kenya consortium where over KES 31 million was paid out and not a single card was printed.
The Office of the Auditor General flagged that contract, yet Pesa Print still ended up with this new one through direct procurement rather than open competition.
READ: NTSA Audit Reveals KES 176 Million Worth of Smart DLs Remain Unprinted
The petitioners also take issue with the contract length. 21 years is a long time to lock in any technology deal, and the petition argues the government failed to account for how fast technology changes in that space.
On top of that, the association says there was no meaningful public participation before the deal was signed, no board resolutions from NTSA authorizing the contract, and no data protection framework despite the system collecting biometric data from motorists.
The system itself was fairly ambitious. It planned to introduce second-generation smart driving licenses at KES 3,050 each, install 1,000 traffic cameras across major roads (700 fixed, 300 mobile), and send instant fine notifications via SMS directly linked to a driver’s license profile.
READ: NTSA Rolls Out 1,000 Speed Cameras to Issue Instant Fines Without Police Stops
The court has issued a penal notice warning NTSA and other respondents against ignoring the orders.
Respondents include the Public Private Partnership Committee, the Directorate of Public Private Partnerships, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, and the Attorney General. Pesa Print and KCB Bank Kenya are listed as interested parties.
They now have 10 days to file responses.
UPDATE
NTSA Director General Eng. Nashon Kondiwa has recently clarified that the court did not suspend traffic enforcement itself.
According to Kondiwa, two separate things are in play. The PPP contract with Pesa Print, which covers the design, supply and installation of smart driving licenses and new enforcement cameras, is what the court froze.
The Minor Traffic Offenses Rules, which allow traffic officers and existing cameras to catch and fine drivers, were not touched by the ruling and are still being enforced across the country.
Traffic offenses are still being picked up through cameras already installed by the Kenya National Highways Authority and the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, as well as through police notices issued manually and via an enforcement application used by traffic officers on the ground.
Therefore, a motorist caught speeding or running a red light through any of those existing channels can still be fined today. What the court has stopped is the expansion of that system.
