MPs probe Russian deal to install vehicle spy chips
Traffic on Masaka Road in early January. As one of the measures to curb insecurity, President Museveni, in 2018, ordered the installation of tracking chips on all motor vehicles and motorcycles. PHOTO/JOSEPH KIGGUNDU
What you need to know:
- The lawmakers want details about the firm and how it got the contract for the job.
Parliament yesterday threw government officials out of a committee sitting for failure to defend the deal awarded to a Russian firm to install spy chips in motor vehicles and motorcycles as a means to curb insecurity in the country.
Led by the Security Minister, Gen Jim Muhwezi, the officials had appeared before Parliament’s Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs chaired by Sheema Woman MP Rosemary Nyakikongoro to respond to queries raised by Parliament about the deal given to Joint Stock Company Global Security.
The decision to invite and question the government officials followed the tabling of a motion by Tororo Woman lawmaker Sarah Opendi, who, among others, questioned the authenticity of the said firm.
Other queries
She also demanded to know if the due process was followed before the contract was endorsed.
The committee resolved to kick out Gen Muhwezi after he failed to furnish MPs with copies of the contract that was signed between the government and the Russian company as the committee instructed him prior to their appearance yesterday.
“We cannot sit down and discuss things that we don’t know so that we go back to Parliament and report on hearsay. We don’t want to report on hearsay. That is why we have told him that if he could not get them [documents] in 30 minutes, we let him go back and prepare all the documents concerning the company,” Ms Nyakikongoro told the media later.
Prior to this, Ms Nyakikongoro had been forced to suspend the proceedings of the committee for 30 minutes for the minister and his team to sort themselves.
The process to throw out Gen Muhwezi was ignited by the Butiru County MP, Mr Godfrey Wakooli, who asked the minister to share a copy of the feasibility study and registration number of the company that was awarded the contract, in Russia.
“You should tell us the registration number of this company in Russia because I did a search about this company on the Internet yesterday but I could not arrive at a clear position about it,” Mr Wakooli said.
It is against this backdrop that lawmakers unanimously resolved to halt the probing process.
Lawmakers on the committee were also irked by the absence of the Ministry of Works officials, who were meant to accompany the Security minister to the same committee yesterday.
When asked whether he carried the said documents to Parliament, Gen Muhwezi said: “Now that you are interested in the details, I can respond to you in writing and they can be given to you in writing by tomorrow [today].”
This, however, did not convince the legislators, who reasoned that allowing the minister more time would delay the proceedings of the committee.
Even after the lapse of the 30 minutes they were given, there was no document produced.
Gen Muhwezi then told the MPs: “Unfortunately, they [my staff] are unable to gather all the documents within this short time. I would propose that we adjourn to another date.”
This sparked an uproar among the MPs within an immensely clogged committee room before the committee chairperson ordering the minister out, asking him to return next week.
She also demanded that the Security minister returns with officials from the Works and Transport ministry, who are also believed to have endorsed the deal.
Background
Following the spate of murders in which several women were killed in 2018, President Museveni, in a televised address, announced a catalogue of measures to curb the wave of insecurity, especially within the central region.
Among the measures he announced were the installation of CCTV cameras in different parts of the country, especially the Kampala metropolitan area. The President also announced that movement tracking chips would be installed on motor vehicles and motorcycles.
The mandatory security measure to be installed in all cars and motorcycles, presses the installation charges on the owner of the car or motorcycle.
Much as there are fears that citizens’ rights to privacy will be breached by the State, there have been raging concerns over the process through which the government outsourced and awarded the contract for the job to Russian firm Joint Stock Company Global Security.
