Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services says it has registered about 12 000 motorcycles during a four-month amnesty government extended to kabaza operators.
Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, through the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), granted a moratorium to motorcycle taxi operators (kabaza) to clear their motorcycles at reduced customs rates from March 10 to June 30 2025, subject to extension.
But speaking at a press conference organised by Malawi Coalition of Kabaza Associations and Stakeholders (Macokosa) in Lilongwe yesterday, Road Traffic regional manager (Centre) Leonard Mtonyo said since the launch of the moratorium, about 12 000 motorcycles have been registered in the Malawi Traffic Information System (Maltis).
He said the 12 000 covers all motorcycles and not just kabaza’s, adding that to boost capacity, the directorate has a mobile registration system deployed to areas that are far from their established centres.
Said Mtonyo: “From February to date, we have registered over 12 000 motorcycles and we are still registering more. We are not satisfied because we know there are more who are yet to register.”
The figure raises questions on the effectiveness of the waiver to motivate kabaza operators to clear with MRA and register in the system for improved revenue and safety.
Macokasa chairperson Moses Mwalabu blamed poor coordination between government agencies and kabaza associations in pushing for improved figures on clearance and registration.
He said the amnesty has been extended to December to allow for more operators to register, adding that as an association they will from Thursday this week embark on a campaign to promote safety of riders and passengers and encourage members to register.
In an update posted on their website on July 11 2025, MRA said that there is an indication of possible extension for the amnesty.
The moratorium followed publications of the Customs and Excise (Public Transport Motorcycles) Regulations, 2025 on February 17 2025, for public transport motorcycles used in commercial transport service for the transportation of people.
But a Treasury official said ideally at the expiry of the amnesty on June 30, law enforcing agencies should have started to pounce on non-compliant kabaza, but due to “political weather” an extension is “the right thing to do”.
If MRA cleared just one million kabaza motorcycles at a rate of K56 000, it would rake in K56 billion which is nearly what government has allocated for the purchase of maize in the current national budget for hunger response.
