REGISTRATION AND LICENSING OF VEHICLES IN KENYA:
Identification marks. (1) The identification mark of a vehicle assigned pursuant to subsection (5) of section 6 of the Act shall include the letter or letters indicating the place where the vehicle is registered as provided for by the Registrar, and a number that shall be assigned to the vehicle by the licensing officer. (2) An identification plate issued to a dealer with a dealer’s general license under subsection (1) of section 23 of the Act shall include the letters K.G., and a number that shall be assigned by the Registrar.

Identification plates (1) The following provisions of this rule shall apply to identification plates carried pursuant to section 12 of the Act and to plates carried for use under a dealer’s general license–

(a) every plate shall be rectangular in shape;

(b) every vehicle other than a motor cycle or trailer shall have fixed thereon one identification plate on the front elevation thereof and one on the back elevation thereof; in both cases, the plate shall be fixed in a horizontal position at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle;

(c) every motor cycle shall have fixed thereon one plate at the rear in a horizontal position at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the cycle;

(d) every trailer shall have fixed thereon one plate at the back in a horizontal position at right angles to its longitudinal axis;

(e) the ground of every dealer’s general identification plate on a motor vehicle used under the authority of a dealer’s general license shall be white, and the distinctive letters and numbers thereon shall be red;

(f) every letter or number on an identification plate shall be not less than 90 millimeters high and every part of every such letter and number shall be at least 15 millimeters broad; the total width of the space taken up by every such letter or number (except in the case of the letter “I” and the number “1″) shall be at least 65 millimeters: Provided that in the case of the plate for a motor cycle the letters shall be not less than 40 millimeters high, every part of every letter and number shall be at least 15 millimeters broad and the total width of the space taken up by every letter or number (except in the case of the letter “I” and the number “1″) shall be at least 30 millimeters;

(g) the space between adjoining letter and adjoining numbers shall be 12 millimeters, and there shall be a margin between the nearest part of any letter or number and the top and bottom of the plate of at least 12 millimeters, and between the nearest part of any letter or number and the sides of the plate of at least 12 millimeters in the case of motor cycles and at least 25 millimeters in the case of all other vehicles;

(h) the space between the last letter and the first number, or vice versa as the case may be, shall be 40 millimeters, and where the letters and numbers are in separate lines the space between the upper and lower lines shall be 20 millimeters.

(2) (a) Every motor vehicle or trailer first registered after 31st May, 1974, shall be fitted with reflective plates unless it is being operated under the authority of a dealer’s general license.

(b) Where a motor vehicle or trailer is not, on 1st June, 1974, fitted with reflective plates, the owner thereof shall, on the first occasion after that date upon which an application is made for a license for the vehicle or trailer, informs the licensing officer accordingly and apply for the issue of reflective plates to him.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of these Rules, any reflective identification plates fitted to a motor vehicle or trailer after 31st May, 1974, shall be deemed not to comply with the provisions of these Rules unless –

(i) they were issued by or on behalf of the Registrar; and

(ii) they bear the mark of authorization set out in the Eleventh Schedule.

(d) The fees payable for issue of plates under paragraph
(c) shall be as prescribed in the First Schedule.

(e) With effect from the 1st June, 1977, no person shall manufacture or sell reflective number plates without the written authority of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles.

(3) Any person who –
(a) uses on a road a motor vehicle or trailer the identification plates of which are not clearly visible or legible; or

(b) is the owner of a motor vehicle or trailer the identification plates of which are, by reason of damage thereto, illegible or which contain any letter or number other than the identification marks assigned to the vehicle or trailer (or any letter or number other than the identification marks authorized by the Registrar), or which do not comply with the provisions of this rule; or

(c) fails to comply with the provisions of subparagraph (b) of paragraph (2) or fails to fit to the vehicle or trailer concerned identification plates issued under that paragraph, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand shillings.

(4) In this rule, “fitted with reflective plates” means carrying identification plates, as required by subparagraphs (b), (c) and (d) of paragraph (1), comprising –
(a) distinctive letters and numbers in white on a back- ground of green reflective material for vehicles owned by local authorities;

(b) distinctive letters and numbers in white on a background of blue reflective material for vehicles owned by such other public bodies as the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President may from time to time, in writing, notify the Registrar and the public bodies concerned; and

(c) distinctive letters and numbers in black on a background of reflective material which –

(i) in the case of the plate on the front elevation or front mudguard, is white; and

(ii) in the case of the plate on the rear elevation is yellow, for all other vehicles.

(5) Where a vehicle is registered in Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire or Zambia in addition to being registered under the Act, nothing in this rule shall be construed so as to prohibit the simultaneous exhibition of identification plates carried pursuant to the law of any such country and identification plates carried pursuant to section 12 of the Act.

Authorization permits. L.N. 87/94(1) Any person who brings a foreign vehicle to Kenya by road or by other means shall report the presence of such vehicle to a licensing officer at the nearest point of entry or at any Government office where vehicle licenses are normally issued and shall submit an application in the prescribed form for an authorization permit which shall be accompanied by the foreign vehicle registration book.

(2) For the purpose of this rule, the points of entry and exit shall be Lunga Lunga, Taveta, Namanga, Isebania, Busia, Malaba, Mandera, Moyale, Liboi, Keekorok, Oloitokitok, Lwakhakha, Kilindini, Lamu and Lokichogio.

(3) In the case of a private vehicle the licensing officer may issue to the applicant free of charge an authorization permit in the prescribed form valid for a period of seven days; and if the owner of such vehicle desires to keep the vehicle in Kenya for a period exceeding seven days but not exceeding three months and there is not then in force in respect of such vehicle an international certificate the Registrar may, on production of the authorization permit and payment of the prescribed fee, issue to the owner a licensee for the vehicle valid for a period not exceeding three months but renewable on expiry:
Provided that the aggregate period during which the vehicle may be kept in Kenya shall not exceed twelve months.

(4) No such fee or any part thereof shall be refundable to the owner if the owner takes or sends the vehicle out of Kenya before expiry of the license; and on expiry of the license the vehicle shall, on application by the owner, be registered and licensed in Kenya, or shall be removed from Kenya.

(5) In the case of a foreign commercial or public service vehicle in respect of which there is not in force an international certificate the licensing certificate or P.T.A. carrier license the licensing officer may, on payment of the prescribed fee, issue in respect of the vehicle an authorization permit in the prescribed form valid for a period not exceeding thirty days but renewable on expiry for an aggregate period not exceeding twelve months from the date of entry into Kenya and the owner shall, on expiration of the authorization period, remove the vehicle from or sent it out of Kenya.
Provided that the owner desires to keep the vehicle in Kenya for a period exceeding twelve months, he shall have the vehicle registered and licensed in Kenya before the expiry of the authorization period under this paragraph.

(6) When removing the vehicles from Kenya, the owner shall produce to the licensing officer at the nearest point of exit the authorization permit or license and if such permit or license has expired a fee proportionate to the initial fee paid for such permit or license shall be payable for each day the vehicle has been in Kenya after expiry of the permit or license.

(7) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with the provisions of this rule shall be guilty of an offence and liable –

(a) in the case of a first conviction, to a fine not exceeding two thousand shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both;

(b) in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding five thousand shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both.

(8) This rule shall not apply to foreign vehicles owned or operated by Kenatco Transport Company Limited.

Manner of carrying license.
(1) Every vehicle license issued under section 17 or 17A of the Act, and every public service vehicle license issued under section 97 of the Act shall be carried on the vehicle –

(a) in the case of a motor-cycle, in any prominent position on the cycle;

(b) in the case of a motor-cycle with side-car, either as provided in paragraph (a) or on the nearside of the side-car in front of the seat;

(c) in the case of a trailer, on the nearside of the trailer,

(d) in the case of all other vehicles, on the nearside of the vehicle in front of the front seat, and facing either forward or to the nearside of the road.

(2) The license shall be carried in a conspicuous and reasonably vertical position behind the glass of the wind-screen or nearside window, so that the front of the license is clearly visible at all times by daylight to a person standing in front of the vehicle or to the left or near side thereof:
Provided that, in the case of a motor-cycle or a vehicle not fitted with a windscreen or windows, the certificate shall be suitably carried in a weatherproof holder having a transparent face.

(3) A dealer’s general license shall be carried on the front identification plate issued with the license, in the holder provided for that purpose.

(4) A license shall be removed as soon as it has expired and be replaced with a license of current validity. Manner of carrying vehicle license certificate. Every vehicle license certificate issued under section 20A of the Act shall be carried on the vehicle in respect of which it is issued affixed to the identification plate. Vehicles exempted from registration and licensing. Deleted by L.N. 33/2007 Vehicles exempted from registration and licensing.

(1) The following classes of vehicles shall be exempt from registration and licensing under Parts II and III of the Act -

(a) vehicles the property of the President;

(b) vehicles owned by the armed forces;

(c) (Deleted by L.N.209/1971);

(d) vehicles used under the authority of a dealer’s general license.

(2) The following classes of vehicles shall be exempt from licensing under the Act -

(a) vehicles owned by -

(i) the Government;

(ii) municipal councils;

(iii) urban or area councils;

(iv) county councils:

(b) vehicles used solely as ambulances by the St. John Ambulance Association or by the Kenya Red Cross Society;

(c) vehicles owned and used solely by the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute;

(d) vehicles the property of any country, or of any consular representative (if such consular representative is not engaged in any other business or profession in Kenya) of a country with which agreement exists with Kenya affording adequate reciprocity in the exemption of such vehicles from road traffic licensing;

(e) vehicles which are used solely on any road or other place to which the public have no general right of access. Vehicles requiring inspection report.

Source: http://www.kenyalaw.org/kenyalaw/klr_app/frames.php