Who is behind the new driving permit company?

Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC) Limited, the new company contracted by the Ministry of Works and Transport to award computerised driving permits, is led by people who are serving or have served at State House, Daily Monitor has learnt.

Details from the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) show that USPC was registered on October 12, 2018, as a joint venture between the government-owned Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPC) and German firm Veridos. 

This is the same company that was contracted in 2016 as Veridos Identity Solutions GMBH to be in charge of security printing on behalf of government.

At the registration of the new company, Mr Vincent K. Musubire, the board chairperson of UPPC, signed on behalf of the former and Mr Thomas Moran signed for Veridos.

 Mr Musubire also serves in State House as deputy principal private secretary to the Vice President.

USPC has seven directors, with Mr Patrick Ibembe, the special assistant to President Museveni as the chairperson Board of Directors. 

Mr George Mugerwa, who is the managing director of the company, also served as a commissioner-in-charge of monitoring and evaluation in the Office of the President. 

In 2017, the minister for the Presidency, Ms Esther Mbayo, appointed Mr Mugerwa as the acting managing director of UPPC to replace Ms Irene Muwanguzi who was at some point sacked over allegations of incompetence. 

Other directors of USPC include Ms Jessica Enyo and Hajj Moses Kamanyire.

 The directors from Veridos include Ms Anne Dierkopf, Mr Thomas Moria, and Mr Alfred Ptacek, who is the finance director and the secretary of the company.

USPC company failed to take over on December 1 from Face Technologies due to unpreparedness. The management of USPC Limited explained that they had planned to source some experts, personnel and equipment mainly from Europe but that this has not been possible because of restricted movements across the globe due to Covid-19, causing general delays.

However, the government has instead extended Face Technologies’ contract to February 28, 2021, to give USPC time to organise and take over. The operation of Face Technologies has been restricted to the Kampala office in Kyambogo as USPC prepares to commence work in March, according to the ministry.

What USPC was registered to do
A copy of the Memorandum of Association of USPC limited that this reporter has seen indicates that at its  registration in 2018, the capital share of the company was Shs10 million, which is divided into 2,000 shares of Shs5,000 each. UPPC owns 1,020 of the shares and Veridos owns the remaining 980.

The venture is a 15-year-partnership to provide the citizens with all relevant security documents, according to another information from the website of Veridos.

The memorandum, however, indicates that  the company was formed “to produce and supply all such security documents whose printing is the preserve of the Government of Uganda, its ministries, authorities, departments, and parastatals....”

Veridos in the October statement said the partnership covers all production of security documents and the supply of associated systems and services.

The memorandum of association, on the other hand, breaks down the objectives of the venture: “To supply and install and maintain all supporting hardware and software systems and equipment necessary for the production, supply and issuance of security documents.”  “To rehabilitate and revamp Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation by inter alia redesigning, developing, constructing, completing, testing and commissioning an e-passport factory and an identity card factory (*security printing factory),” it reads further.

According to a number of Ugandans, Face Technologies was doing an excellent job in terms of speed and standards of their services. It is yet to be seen whether the new company will either match or showcase a better performance. 

According to the ministry, the company was given a contract in 2003 to build and transfer the computerised permit system to the government.

What is UPPC and who owns it?
UPPC is a public enterprise that is fully owned by government and was established in 1992, according to the information on the corporation’s website.

It started as the government printer under the British Colonial Government in 1902. Due to the important role it plays in the printing of all bills, statutes and official gazette, government classified it among Class I government entities and retained full ownership of the firm.

The current board chair of UPPC is Mr Musubire. Other board members include Dr Patrick Ibembe, Mr Edgar Gerald Agaba, Ms Florence Joyce Otto, Mr Godfrey B. Ssengendo, Mr Thomas Matende, Ms Aisha Ssanyu Kakaire, and Mr John Lorot, who is one of Mr Museveni’s loyal men in Karamoja.

Then Veridos?
The company is a joint venture between Giesecke+Devrient, which is one of the global firms in securing technologies doing banknote printing and cash lifecycle systems, and Bundesdruckerei, a German state printing service, according to information on their website.

The company is majorly known for printing driver licenses, health cards, identify cards, passports, facial recognition solutions, as well as bar code and magnetic stripe forensic readers for age verification and transaction processing.

The company supports  countries in introducing and implementing such sophisticated new technologies.
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