If I were Pres­i­dent, I would do what no oth­er leader has dared to do — break Kenya free from out­dat­ed car poli­cies that make us poor­er while enrich­ing our neigh­bors. Every month, 6,500 Kenyans pay up to KSh 700,000 more for the same cars that Ugan­dans and Tan­za­ni­ans buy for less. Why? Because of an out­dat­ed, 25-year-old pol­i­cy that has nev­er been wise­ly revised to match mod­ern real­i­ties. Today, I am about to share a dis­rup­tive idea that can shake the auto­mo­tive indus­try, cre­ate mil­lions of jobs, and final­ly put Kenya first.

For decades, Kenya has enforced an 8‑year age lim­it on import­ed vehi­cles, claim­ing to ensure qual­i­ty, safe­ty, and envi­ron­men­tal com­pli­ance. Mean­while, neigh­bor­ing East African coun­tries allow much old­er imports. As a result, a Kenyan farmer pays about KSh 1.4 mil­lion for a 1500cc vehi­cle, while an Ugan­dan coun­ter­part buys the same car for around KSh 700,000. This dis­par­i­ty weak­ens Kenya’s com­pet­i­tive­ness and shifts wealth to our neigh­bors. The rigid restric­tion shrinks the pool of afford­able cars, dri­ving up costs and hurt­ing small busi­ness­es, farm­ers, and low-income earn­ers. If we believe in eco­nom­ic empow­er­ment, why make trans­porta­tion so expensive?

I dare say that Kenya’s 8‑year rule is root­ed in out­dat­ed poli­cies and hid­den inter­ests embed­ded in the KS 1515:2000 stan­dard — designed for a dif­fer­ent auto­mo­tive era. Why hasn’t this old frame­work been wise­ly updat­ed? Stud­ies, includ­ing the WHO Glob­al Sta­tus Report on Road Safe­ty 2023, con­firm that vehi­cle age isn’t the key safe­ty fac­tor — brak­ing sys­tems, sta­bil­i­ty con­trol, and road con­di­tions mat­ter more. Emis­sions should be man­aged through reg­u­lar inspec­tions, not arbi­trary bans.

Instead of restrict­ing car imports based on age, Kenya should intro­duce an inspec­tion-based reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work. For instance, new vehi­cles would under­go their first inspec­tion after five years, eight-year-old vehi­cles every three years, and those over ten years old annu­al­ly. This sys­tem would make cars more afford­able while ensur­ing safe­ty and envi­ron­men­tal com­pli­ance. Addi­tion­al­ly, Kenya should adopt an emis­sion-based zon­ing sys­tem, where vehi­cles that do not meet set emis­sion stan­dards pay a charge when enter­ing spe­cif­ic areas. This approach, used in major glob­al cities, encour­ages clean­er trans­porta­tion with­out unfair­ly penal­iz­ing low-income Kenyans.

Accord­ing to Kenya Bureau of Stan­dards Kenya imports about 78,000 vehi­cles annu­al­ly, gen­er­at­ing bil­lions in tax rev­enue. Local­iz­ing inspec­tions and assem­bly would boost KRA col­lec­tions like nev­er before, keep­ing more reg­u­la­to­ry fees with­in the coun­try. Con­duct­ing inspec­tions local­ly, with biose­cu­ri­ty checks as stip­u­lat­ed in ISPM-41 Stan­dards retained abroad to pro­tect our agri­cul­tur­al sec­tor, would cre­ate thou­sands of jobs and retain rev­enue. Ban­ning used car part imports would fur­ther attract glob­al man­u­fac­tur­ers to set up fac­to­ries, dri­ving indus­tri­al growth and employment.

You may agree with me that Kenya has become a dump­ing ground for sec­ond-hand spare parts, com­pro­mis­ing safe­ty and sti­fling local inno­va­tion. Instead, we should man­u­fac­ture and recy­cle parts local­ly, cre­at­ing jobs and reduc­ing waste. Strength­en­ing TIVET insti­tu­tions would equip youth with essen­tial auto­mo­tive skills. Hav­ing worked in the auto­mo­tive sec­tor since 1994 and being part of Kenya Asso­ci­a­tion of Man­u­fac­tur­ers, I have seen how out­dat­ed poli­cies hin­der growth. While oth­er coun­tries fos­ter local indus­tries, Kenya remains trapped in import dependency.

If we keep import­ing, we will nev­er man­u­fac­ture. If we keep accept­ing used car parts, we will nev­er inno­vate. If we keep enforc­ing out­dat­ed reg­u­la­tions, we will nev­er progress. With­out learn­ing from the past, the future remains a gam­ble. Unless we change our mind­set, we will keep blam­ing every new pres­i­dent for fail­ing Kenyans. The auto­mo­tive sec­tor is vital to our econ­o­my, yet it remains shack­led by poli­cies that under­mine its growth. It is time for bold action. By adopt­ing an inspec­tion-based mod­el, intro­duc­ing emis­sion-based zon­ing, ban­ning used car parts, and fos­ter­ing local man­u­fac­tur­ing, Kenya can final­ly take con­trol of its eco­nom­ic des­tiny and empow­er its people.

The fact that Kenya has just set an auto­mo­tive pol­i­cy does­n’t mean we can­not revis­it it for the sake of ‘Kenya First’. Think green, act green!