AUTONEWS - AA CLUB OF KENYA MAGAZINE
– 19
AUTOBIO
RITA KAVASHE
exhaust fumes contributing up to 40
per cent of the particulate matter in
urban areas.
With this picture in mind, there is
a desperate need for more effort to
be put into mitigating the effects of
second hand vehicle pollution in the
country. Currently, Kenya has made
great strides towards containing pol-
lution from car exhaust emissions,
but a lot more needs to be done.
As a country, we are among the
few in the world that made a decision
to allow only low sulphur fuels vehi-
cles in Kenya. The government later
passed a law that prohibits vehicles
older than 8 years to be imported
in the country. The intention was to
reduce toxic exhaust fumes emitted
to the environment by cars older than
8 years.
Harmoniously, the just concluded
2nd East African Manufacturing
Conference, held in Kigali Rwanda,
passed to champion for a five year
limit on all second hand vehicle
imports in East African member
countries progressively by 2021.
Rob de Jong, UNEP Head of
Transport, noted that if African
countries could set an age limit on
imports, they could quickly reduce
pollution and leapfrog technologies.
He further noted that if these coun-
tries impose higher import standards,
majority of their fleet will soon be
compliant.
Despite all these efforts, there is
still need for regulations that prohibit
and discourage the dumping of sec-
ond hand vehicles in Kenya promot-
ing locally manufactured/assembled
vehicles that are more environmental
friendly.
Locally, engine manufacture is
guided by The Kenya Standard (KS)
155 regulation. The KS 1515 is an
exhaust emission test that requires
vehicle engines comply to set
environmental requirements. These
requirements state that no engines
should emit dense blue or clearly
visible black smoke and the engine
speed should be at 2500 revolutions
per minute (rpm).
According to Section 27 (2) of
the Environmental Management and
Coordination (Air Quality) Regula-
tions 2014, all commercial and pub-
lic service vehicles should undergo
emissions testing annually, while all
private vehicles older than five years
should undergo emissions testing
once every two years. However,
although this regulation has been in
place for more than two years, Kenya
is yet to fully operationalise manda-
tory emissions testing.
In support of these guidelines, all
vehicles assembled locally undergo
engine test for compliance with
KS 1515 guidelines by the Na-
tional Transport & Safety Authority
(NTSA) through the Government
Vehicle Inspection Center. This test
guarantees that the engines fitted in
all new vehicles meet the standard
requirements for engine emissions.
On this front, local assemblers
have played key roles in partnering
with the government and other stake-
holders to create guidelines that, if
implemented, will play a huge part in
ensuring the environment is kept safe
with as little emission as possible.
The environment and sustainabili-
ty is a major focus for every industry.
There is need for the government,
individuals and corporates to take a
more proactive approach to envi-
ronmental management and comply
with environmental regulations.
This World Environment Week,
I ask that we as a country, make
hard decisions towards conserving
our environment and reducing the
air pollution levels in the country
through buying locally assembled
vehicles against importing second
hand vehicles.
Rita Kavashe is the Managing
Director of General Motors East
Africa Ltd
This article was first published in
The Nation Newspaper.
Rita Kavashe is the Managing Director
of General Motors East Africa (GMEA)
Ltd, reporting to the President and
Managing Director of GM Africa & Mid-
dle East Operations.
She received her Bachelor’s degree
in Education