The red number plates with digits 22 CD 1K stood out on the Land Rover Discovery SUV that chauffeured United Kingdom’s King Charles and Queen Camilla during their visit in Nairobi.
The color red number plates in Kenya are designated for vehicles used for diplomatic purposes including embassies, the United Nations, and multinational organizations.
For the various embassies and commissions in Kenya, the government has allocated a special number plate which features a number, letters CD, and the letter K denoting that the embassy is in Kenya.
The initial number on such a number plate represents the code of the respective Embassy.
The codes are allocated depending on the time a foreign country recognized Kenya as an independent nation and established its embassy.
For instance, West Germany, now known as Germany, was the first nation to recognize Kenya’s independence.
As such, the country’s embassy in Kenya uses number plates starting with 1 CD.
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Order of Diplomatic Codes Used in Kenyan Number Plates
Russia was the second while Ethiopia came third and as such the two nations use number plates starting with 2CD and 3CD respectively.
In addition, the letters CD on the diplomatic number plates stand for Diplomatic Corps while the rest of the prefix number before letter K on the end depend on the rank assigned to a particular vehicle by the embassy.
For the Land Rover used by King Charles with registration number 22 CD 1K, the number 22 represents Britain’s code in Kenya, and the number one before K shows that the vehicle is the highest ranked in the embassy.
Normally, the High Commissioner or Ambassador uses the number plate with 1K, while other officials in the embassy use the rest of the numbers according to the pecking order.
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The United States, on its part, uses the code number 29 for its vehicles in the country.
Since 1963, Kenya’s diplomatic ties with countries around the world has grown. Hence the prefix of the diplomatic number plates has grown as well.
Countries like the UAE and Western Sahrawi came way later and have three-digit prefixes. Further, organizations including the African Union and United Nations (UN) have special codes for their number plates.
The AU, for example, uses the number 47, hence its vehicles start with digits 47 CD.
Special Number Plates for UN Organs
For the UN, various organs have unique codes.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) uses code number 40 and letters UN, number 41 for the World Health Organization (41 UN), 42 for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and 44 UN for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The World Food Programme uses 45 UN, 62 UN for UNHCR, and 63 UN for UNICEF.
