MPs push for completion of money printing factory

Legislators on the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee have called for the swift completion of the Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC) plant project currently underway in Entebbe.
Once complete, the USPC plant will print a variety of security documents, including passports, driving permits and National Identity Cards. The government had also visualised a long term plan of the company printing its local currency.

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The legislators made the request on Wednesday following the tabling of a Shs46 billion supplementary budget request by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Of this, Shs45 billion is planned for the procurement of 260,000 electronic (e) passport booklets.
“It comes to Shs174,000 per booklet against the required funds to establish our own factory here. You can see that we would be saving a lot of money,” said Mr Bashir Lubega (Mubende Municipality).

“We don’t want this to become another Lubowa [botched] hospital [whose works have stalled],”  he added.
USPC was formulated in 2018 as a joint venture between the Ugandan government and a German firm Veridos. The company entered into a 15-year-partnership with the government to provide the country with all relevant security documents.
Maj Gen Apollo Gowa Kasiita, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Control, informed the committee that the plan was to have the project completed within two years but then a number of things happened.

“Covid came in and also affected production. They were also expecting to get the finances from the purchase of passports, identity cards and from the driving permits but all these were curtailed by subsequent events, more especially Covid-19,” Maj Gen Kasiita said.
“But negotiations have gone on and they have got the money to continue the construction and that should be on course now. We should look forward to the next two years to have this in place,” he added.
But Mr Godfrey Wakooli (Butiru County) said Covid-19 is a lame excuse because there was no halt of construction projects during that period of time.

“You were telling Ugandans that the cost of passports was now going to be cheaper when you came up with this venture.  How did Covid affect the progress of the project?” Mr Wakooli wondered.  
Maj Gen Kasiita said they would certainly ensure that the project is completed as soon as possible.
Ms Rosemary Nyakikongoro (Sheema Woman) said they would visit the USPC plant project this week and conduct their own investigations.