Murkomen Defends Move To Storm NTSA Headquarters

Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen on Monday, September 25 argued that his decision to make a surprise visit to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) headquarters in Upperhill, Nairobi was informed by the need to address service laxity in the government sector.

Murkomen was responding to renowned banker, Mohamed Wehliye, who had claimed that NTSA had shortchanged him when he was asked to get his biometrics captured despite undergoing a similar procedure three years ago.

"I got my cool driver's license 3 years ago. Issued from NTSA offices where all my biometrics were done. I have renewed it online and was hoping they would send the new DL to me.

"I have now been informed that new biometrics have to be done. Ni kama zile zingine zimepotea (It's like the existing ones disappeared)!" complained Wehliye on X (formerly Twitter)

CS Kipchumba Murkomen during his impromptu visit to NTSA offices in Upperhill, Nairobi on September 22, 2023. /KIPCHUMBA MURKOMEN

In response, Murkomen remarked that he had stood back and watched NTSA's service delivery on a day-to-day basis from a distance, but constant complaints forced him to swing to action, hence the impromptu visit.

"Everything will be sorted in the next two weeks. I have been patient with the institution but I had to press the reset button.

"Your friend Ahmednasir is not very happy with that approach but I had to do it. I hope the move will restore sanity. It’s not my wish to micromanage but rebooting the system is my job," he defended.

The CS was also seen to be responding to Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi who criticised the recent unannounced visits by Murkomen and his Interior counterpart, Kithure Kindiki, to various government departments, alleging systemic flaws within state agencies that hinder efficient service delivery to the common citizens.

Abdullahi accused the CSs of conducting duties meant for junior officers such as clerks.

"When you have two senior Cabinet Secretaries storming offices and work stations of clerks in their ministries and addressing mundane issues of driver's licences, logbooks, police clearance certificates, passports etc.…issues routinely handled by entry-level clerks in the ministries…then you sadly realise that the system is broken and Kenya is not delivering for the common man/woman," he wrote in part.

The lawyer emphasized that there are usually multiple layers of officers between Cabinet Secretaries and the clerks they oversee.

"It is never the job of a minister (ok, I have never been one, but surely isn't it common sense!) to address these pressing but trivial issues of Wanjiku.

"There are 10 to 15 levels of officers between the ministers and the clerks they are supervising. What time will the ministers have to address important issues i.e. the bypasses that were completed without critical components and which officials and Chinese contractors "chewed" billions? (i.e. every two hundred meters in Nairobi has 2 to 3 policemen manning roadblocks in the name of traffic control but collecting taxes not authorised by Parliament in the 2023/24 budget) and insecurity in some parts of Kenya?" Ahmednassir questioned.

Furthermore, he questioned when Cabinet Secretaries will find the time to address more critical matters within their departments, such as the completion of infrastructure projects with missing components or financial improprieties involving officials and contractors.

"Ministers should ensure that the system works by ensuring that everyone in charge of the 15 levels between them and the clerks work. How can all the 15 levels fail in a ministry? disaster!" Ahmednasir concluded.

Following the visit, Murkomen ordered NTSA to clear the backlog in the printing of Driving Licences, logbooks and digital number plates within two weeks, revealing to members of the public that over 50,000 driving licence applications remained unprocessed, some going as far back as September 2022.