The Kenyan government is racing to untangle a legislative knot that threatens to choke the country’s nascent electric mobility revolution. Facing pressure from investors and climate commitments, the state is now deliberating a comprehensive omnibus bill to save the industry.

For years, Kenya has positioned itself as the Silicon Savannah of green energy, yet the reality on the ground is one of policy paralysis. The Ministry of Roads and Transport has finally admitted that the current legal framework is obsolete, creating a "gap" that has stifled innovation and scared off foreign capital. The choice now is binary: patch the old laws or build a new regulatory architecture from scratch.

The Cost of Delay

The stakes are economic as much as they are environmental. While Rwanda and Ethiopia race ahead with tax breaks and clear mandates, Kenya’s e-mobility sector has been left navigating a grey zone.

"This gap has limited investment, slowed innovation, and hindered local manufacturing," a ministry official conceded. The result is a lost decade of job creation. Instead of assembling EVs in Nairobi and Mombasa, the country is still largely importing expensive units, keeping the technology out of reach for the average matatu operator or boda boda rider.

The Omnibus Solution

The proposed Omnibus Bill represents a desperate attempt to catch up. It aims to harmonize the fragmented regulations currently scattered across NTSA, NEMA, and the Energy/Petroleum regulatory body (EPRA).

• Incentives: The bill is expected to codify tax holidays for local assemblers.
• Infrastructure: It will mandate charging stations in new building codes, a critical bottleneck for adoption.
• Standards: New protocols to prevent the dumping of e-waste and substandard batteries.

As the government deliberates, the clock is ticking. The global shift to electric is accelerating, and capital is fluid. If Kenya cannot provide regulatory certainty by the end of this fiscal year, it risks becoming a consumer of green tech rather than a producer, watching from the sidelines as the rest of East Africa drives into the future.