New smart driving licences.

Kenyan drivers will be issued with new electronic driving licences by the end of the year under a plan announced by transport minister Chirau Mwakwere, The Nation newspaper reports. The new document will look and function much like a credit card with the holders details including name, date of issue, signature, fingerprints, class of vehicle for which the licence has been issued and driving history contained in an embedded microchip. They will replace the existing paper documents, which are bulky and outdated and easy to forge. Besides being more secure, the new licences should also help harmonise operations between the transport ministry, the police and the Kenya Revenue Authority, which is responsible for registering vehicles. Speaking at the opening of the annual Motor Expo at the Sarit Centre in Westlands, Nairobi, Mwakwere said the project would be put to tender shortly and that the new licences should be issued by December. The cost to motorists of the new document is not yet known. The move is part of efforts to streamline the motoring sector in Kenya. It follows a similar initiative in Ghana announced earlier this year.