The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) closed the financial year ended 30 June 2025 with a sharply narrowed deficit of KSh 9.10 million, a near-complete turnaround from the KSh 472.37 million shortfall recorded in FY2023-24
- •The numbers were buoyed by a new revenue stream that papered over structural weaknesses in the authority's income base.
- •Total revenue grew a modest 1.29% to KSh 3.89 billion, masking a dramatic shift in composition.
- •The National Treasury's approval of vehicle transfer ownership fees as an Appropriation in Aid generated KSh 1.24 billion in its debut year, single-handedly driving a 14.3% rise in AIA revenue to KSh 3.46 billion.
Without it, the authority's revenue performance would have deteriorated materially. Number plate revenue collapsed 52% to KSh 818 million from KSh 1.71 billion, pulling total sale of goods revenue down 47.1% to KSh 1.01 billion.
GoK recurrent grants fell 67.3% to KSh 180 million from KSh 550.40 million. The European Union disbursed nothing under the Usalama Barabarani project during the year against a budget of KSh 600 million.
Total expenditure rose 10.6% to KSh 4.32 billion.
- •Employee costs climbed 9.47% to KSh 1.46 billion, with salaries at KSh 1.31 billion and pension contributions at KSh 129 million.
- •Use of goods and services fell 16.9% to KSh 1.89 billion, tracking the decline in number plate printing costs, which dropped from KSh 1.04 billion to KSh 450.80 million.
- •Travel and subsistence rose 21% to KSh 305.98 million.
- •Training costs surged to KSh 186 million from KSh 5.1 million, reflecting donor-funded capacity building across 1,619 staff under EU and World Bank programmes.
The authority spent KSh 4.32 billion against actual receipts of KSh 4.08 billion, an overspend of KSh 194 million or 5% above collections. The final approved budget was KSh 5.55 billion, leaving a KSh 1.47 billion or 27% underfunding gap that management acknowledged may have constrained service delivery.
On the balance sheet, total assets grew 18.7% to KSh 2.41 billion, driven by a 172.6% surge in capital expenditure to KSh 484.91 million, largely World Bank-funded work in progress which stood at KSh 1.22 billion. Cash fell 42.9% to KSh 186.77 million. Trade and other payables rose 30.9% to KSh 836.07 million, with KSh 158.55 million outstanding for over a year. The accumulated deficit on the balance sheet stands at KSh 2.73 billion, marginally improved from KSh 2.79 billion.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu issued a qualified opinion, citing the authority's inability to confirm ownership or accuracy of its KSh 264.75 million land and buildings balance. Of 15 land parcels used for motor vehicle inspection centres nationwide, only two carry title deeds, six have allotment letters, and nine have no ownership documentation at all.
Beyond the qualification, the auditor flagged KSh 546.26 million processed outside the core iTIMS transport management system, raising revenue accountability concerns. The ERP system, procured in 2015 at KSh 51.05 million, cannot generate reports or print payment vouchers. Around 600 of 1,367 devices are unmonitored by antivirus software and the authority continues running Windows 10 after Microsoft ended support in October 2025. No disaster recovery test was conducted during the year.
Five audit findings from FY2023-24 remain unresolved, including Smart Driving Licence underperformance where only 1,979,456 of 5 million contracted cards have been printed since 2017, with 231,148 cards worth KSh 71.10 million sitting idle in store.
