Digital plates: Govt blames Russia sanctions for delays

The government has pushed the mass installation exercise of digital number plates on private vehicles to July 1, this publication has learnt. 
The exercise was expected to start on February 1 following an official launch in Kampala last year. 

Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, Ms Susan Kataike, the Ministry of Works and Transport spokesperson, gave three reasons for the postponement. 
“The reason, partly, is because of logistical issues, amid the ongoing sanctions on Russia,” Ms Kataike said. 
Russia, a transcontinental country, located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, has for the last two years been facing sanctions from Western nations for invading Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe. 

Sensitisation
The second reason is to allow the government to do more sensitisation across the country, according to Ms Kataike. 
This follows some reports from respective car owners that they are not aware of the pending exercise. 
Thirdly, the government needs more time to address concerns surrounding verification. 

“Some people from the private sector went to Parliament to issue petitions over the number plates,” Ms Kataike said, adding, “So, we are currently looking into some of the issues they raised and giving the enrolment exercise some more time. We want to handle all issues raised in those petitions’’.   Among the sectors that petitioned over the matter was Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) which last year, in July, implored Parliament to investigate and address the unresolved inconsistencies in the project, including among other things, failure to set up installation centres, setting up a local factory to manufacture the digital number plates, and embarking on a countrywide sensitisation exercise on the plates. 

Probe
Internal Affairs Minister Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire also raised the red flag on the exercise during a parliamentary probe in August last year.  
“I don’t know who is doing what and what is disappointing is the police, who would have been the principal actor, were largely kept out,” Gen Otafiire said at the time in response to a question that had been directed at him by lawmakers on the Committee of Defence and Internal Affairs.

 There were queries on which government officials signed the contract with the Russian company, Joint Stock Company Global Security, to provide the country with digital number plates. The contract was signed in 2021. 
The project intends to track criminals who use vehicles and motorcycles, according to President Museveni.

For now, the government continues to do the installation of digital number plates on government vehicles, an exercise that started last year in November. The activity is being done at the Works ministry offices in Kampala and in Kawempe, a suburb in Kampala City where the contractors have a fitting centre. 

Cost
Once the mass enrolment exercise commences, new vehicle and motorcycle owners will pay Shs714,000 for new registration while swapping existing plates will cost Shs150,000 for motor vehicles and Shs50,000 for motorcycles.

How digital plates  tracking system works
During a demonstration exercise in Kampala on November 1, 2023, a government official said the verification process starts with confirming particulars in the car owner’s log book before a number plate is allocated and fitted into the vehicle.

 Upon installation of the digital number plates, a technical team from police headquarters can get a live feed of the movement of the vehicle, considering its mandate to oversee security in the country. Other motor vehicle registration key players, including the Ministry of Works and Transport and Security ministry are all able to access the information depending on what professional use it is needed for.

Police are able to keep track of the vehicles because of the Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS), a software technology, incorporated inside on-board tracking devices and two number plates equipped with transmitters.
The installation process, over all, takes between 30 minutes to one hour.