The government has advertised National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) director general’s post, which is currently held by Francis Meja.
Applicants have been given up to July 12 to submit their applications which entail a detailed CV, stating their current position, remuneration and telephone contact, names and contacts of three referees, copies of academic and professional certificates and testimonials and learance certificates from KRA, EACC, HELB, DCI and CRB.
Also advertised is the position of Director Motor Vehicle Inspection and Safety Audits and Manager, Internal Audits.
Read: How NTSA Top Managers Risk The Security Of This Country through Fraud
This comes at the wake of several scandals that have hit the body in the past, the most recent ones being duplication of vehicle number plates and corruption at the body, that saw several top officials arrested and later released.
In March, NTSA transferred at least 200 employees working in the motor vehicle inspection unit in what the board termed as “staff reorganizions aligned to the authority’s strategic plan.”
This followed resignation of the director for roads safety Njeri Waithaka three weeks after police raided the agency’s offices.
It was revealed by Kahawa Tungu four months ago that the body under Meja was losing millions through Transport Integrated Management System (TIMS), that the body purchased from Chinese government.
Read: Top NTSA Bosses Arrested, Headquarter Sealed by DCI Over Fake Vehicle Registrations
Coupled with the above, NTSA procured a driving license printing system which cost it over one billion shillings but is so archaic that since it was procured almost two years ago, it has only managed to print 100,000 new driving licenses.
Together with the printer, NTSA also bought 5 million blank driving license cards which it will apparently use on the print. They are currently rotting in the warehouses of the regulator.
Another scandal that rocked the body under Meja’s tenure is the issuance of third licence plate that was supposed to have commenced years back. The plates were supposed to enhance security of vehicles by having an additional third license plate sticker containing a RFID chip, which would contain the details of the vehicle.
Read: CS Matiang’i To Oversee All Government Projects, In Charge Of NTSA – Uhuru Directs
In line with this, NTSA advertised a tender for the supply of supply 1.1 million stickers over a duration of 3 years. These stickers were supposed to be capable of being read by the Authority’s terminals/ readers, and also be capable of being printed by the Authority’s existing printers.
The tender would later be awarded to a Germany company, Tonnjes Ltd after conducting a due diligence exercise.
However, during the implementation of the contract, it emerged that the stickers could not be printed by the authority’s printers or chip-read by the authority’s terminals.
Read: NTSA Director for Roads Safety Njeri Waithaka Resigns Days After Police Raided Agency Offices
At this point, the public procurement & disposal Act dictates that the tender should have been cancelled, as the sticker clearly did not meet the technical specifications. However this was not done, and instead a second contract for the supply of printers was given to the same company under direct procurement as the printers and readers supplied were generic and could be sourced from the open market.
Through the first contract, the firm has lost over Ksh 411 million to useless stickers and other millions in terms of paying for the software.
With his post advertised, Meja could be on his way out of the transport body, after years of scandalous leadership.
Meja was appointed the director general of the NTSA on February 5, 2014.
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