Motorists on Mukwano road in Kampala. According to the original EPS regulations, drivers on highways were expected to race at a maximum of 80km/h and slow down to 30km/h while passing through townships or paved highways, or face a penalty of 200,000shs for violation. FILE/PHOTO
A multi-sectoral team involving officials from two ministries (Works and Transport as well as Justice and Constitutional Affairs), the Uganda Police Force (UPF), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the Russian-based company Joint Stock Company Global Security (JSCGS) were yesterday expected to put together a report that will decide the shape and form the Automated Express Penalty System (AutoEPS) takes. The contents of the report, which are pending Cabinet approval, were not readily available by press time. This was the second such meeting that was being held in as many weeks. A meeting held on June 24, whose minutes Saturday Monitor has seen, set out to sketch “a roadmap for addressing … all the gaps and concerns” following the implementation of the Traffic and Road Safety (Prescribed Speed Limits) Regulations using AutoEPS.
At a speed bump
While putting implementation of the AutoEPS on the back burner last month, Mr Edward Katumba Wamala, the Works and Transport minister, set a cut-off date of July 12 by which the government should have smoothed over the rough edges on the new traffic rules and regulations that blindsided many motorists. The Traffic and Road Safety (Prescription of Speed Limits) Regulations (2025), which are laws subsidiary to the Traffic and Road Safety Act, were gazetted as Statutory Instrument Number 16 of 2025 on February 14. Consequently, the AutoEPS was—amid public uproar—launched early last month. The AutoEPS, according to the government, is just one part of a wider Intelligence Transport Monitoring System (ITMS) currently being rolled out in partnership with JSCGS. The deficits were acknowledged during the June 24 meeting which was attended by 22 officials from the multi-sectoral team.
“There were many errors made when ITMS was synchronising its system with the EPS from Uganda Police Force. This led to duplication of EPS fines on vehicles. A single taxi was given over 10 offences with one offence being duplicated 10 times at the same time, same location and by the same camera. When these errors were brought to the attention of police, they were removed from the record of the taxis and each taxi had zero balance. Surprisingly, the fines were again reinstated the next day,” minutes from the meeting stated. “In the process of synchronising the systems, some fines were also interchanged, for example, a person who had a fine for S. 119 on inconsiderate use of the road with a fine of [Shs]100,000 was changed to S.112 that provides for drugs and a fine of [Shs]200,000 was given.
A surcharge was attached to the fine to make it [Shs]300,000 […],” other minutes from the meeting added. Before yesterday’s meeting, various sources, including some officials on the multi-sectoral team, confessed that it was highly unlikely that Minister Katumba’s cut-off date will be met. We have, however, been told that the UPF has locked in speed limits for various road infrastructure at as many as 10 camera sites. The sites in question include the Bwaise Northern Bypass (Bwaise to Namungona), ITMS 1013105106, ITMS 1013134106, ITMS 1013175107, ITMS 1088394506, and ITMS 248819385. Other camera sites are Katabi 1 (Entebbe to Mpala), Katabi 2 (Mpala to Entebbe), Kisubi Namulanda, and Wampewo-Gayaza-Kampala.
Not at full pelt
Motorists who have approached the Garden City roundabout from the Access Road junction are now accustomed to being greeted by 30km/hr speed limit signs. Our sources in the UPF tell us that this is one of many speed limits at the Yusuf Lule Road 1 camera site that have been consented to by the responsible authorities. A 100km/hr speed limit has been set for camera sites at Bandwe Primary School, Kajansi Expressway 1, Kajansi Expressway 2, and Kigo Southern Bypass. Camera sites at Bwaise Northern Bypass 1 and Bwaise Northern Bypass 2 will work with a 70km/hr speed limit. Elsewhere, there is a 50km/hr speed limit for camera sites at Wampewo (Gayaza), Magigye (Gayaza), and Nakwero-Gayaza-Kalagi. Ditto Kisubi (Namulanda) and Kawempe (Bombo Road) camera sites where driving above the 50km/hr limit will yield the much-dreaded ticket.
A 40km/hr speed limit applies to camera sites at Katabi 1 and Katabi 2. The camera site at Yusuf Lule Road 2 has been tailored to work with a speed limit of 30km/hr. Previously, speed limits operated in a straitjacket that worked with a 30km/hr upper limit for suburban areas dotted with social amenities and a 70km/hr upper limit for highways. Questions raised around ticketing on high speed roadways where public service vehicles and other such commercial cars ply their trade. The June 24 meeting heard that “it was not true that synchronisation of systems brought back tickets that were not there.” Adding: “That the FIS [Financial Inclusion Systems] issued tickets separate from the previous EPS under the Uganda Police Force.
The only part for FIS that related to the previous EPS was tracking people that had not paid.” What was observed, the meeting heard, “was that FIS at some point would capture more than one image of the same incident and forward them to the traffic officer as violations.” This, it was further disclosed during the meeting, “would at times lead to human error in issuing more than one ticket for the same violation.” JSCGS’s technical team was consequently asked to “collect all system errors and harmonise them.” “It was also clarified that where a vehicle that speeds past several cameras is issued tickets at each of the camera [sic], this did not amount to duplication,” a minute from the June 24 meeting states.
The road ahead
After the implementation of the AutoEPS, last month, public response ranged from questions about the legality and fairness of the award of the contract to a foreign entity to revenue sharing arrangements. Other qualms revolved around privacy concerns, the hefty penalties, and the time given to offenders to clear said penalties. According to Ms Grace Nanyonjo, a lawyer with Centre for Eco Preservation and Adaptation Strategies, “by virtue of section 17 of the Interpretation Act, which says subsidiary laws gain force of law on the day they are gazetted unless expressly provided to the contrary, that Instrument commenced and came into force on 14th February, 2025.”
During the June 24 meeting, the multi-sectoral team was informed that “the regulations were aligned with the Sections of the Traffic and Road Safety Act as revised by the Law Reform Commission. [...] however, it was possible that the gadgets used to eventually issue the tickets were not aligned with the law.” Minutes from the meeting also show that members on the multi-sectoral team learnt that “the form that came out on the first day of commissioning the system had errors.” While the form “reflected the old sections”, the multi-sectoral team was told that these flaws were sorted out. Going forward, tickets that come out are “aligned with the EPS regulations and the Act.”
Meanwhile, Saturday Monitor has also learnt that police officers can still issue tickets to motorists flagged by laser guns in different speeding zones. A laser gun measures vehicle speeds by emitting pulses of infrared light. It then calculates the time taken for light to reflect back. The UPF has also continued to implement new rules enshrined in the Traffic and Road Safety (Prescription of Speed Limits) Regulations (2025). Tickets have, for instance, been handed to motorists who have put passengers aged 12 and below in the co-driver seats of their respective cars.
