Drivers expect efficiency, orderliness from USPC

Motorists queue at Uganda Driver Licensing System at the Uganda Railway Corporation offices on Nasser Road in Kampala to pick up their driving licences on April 9. PHOTO / ALEX ESAGALA

What you need to know:

  • The issue: Driving permits. 
  • Our view: The stampede at the Uganda Railways Corporation offices, for instance, could have been avoided. Drivers could have been called in an organised way to pick up their permits.

On Thursday, hundreds of Ugandans thronged the Uganda Railways Corporation offices in Kampala, the home of Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC), the new company issuing driving licences. Reason: They had all received messages asking them to pick up their driving permits.

This follows a four-month lull in the issuance of driving permits after government announced that it would not be renewing the contract of South African-company Face Technologies, and instead awarded it to USPC, a joint venture between government-owned Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPC) and German firm Veridos.

But the transition from Face Technologies to USPC has been a rough one, with drivers often bearing the brunt of the sluggishness of some individuals. USPC failed to take over from Face Technologies on December 1, 2020, due to unpreparedness. 

The management of USPC explained that they had planned to source some experts, personnel and equipment mainly from Europe but it was not possible because of restricted movements across the globe due to Covid-19, causing general delays.

This followed months of extensions of Face Technologies’ contracts. In October 2019, government agreed to grant Face Technologies a transitional period to hand over the production of computerised driving permits to the ministry of Works.

Currently, USPC is charged with printing of all government security documents including passports, National Identity Cards and now driving licences. But Ugandans had hoped that the delays experienced in getting passports and National Identity Cards would not be shifted to getting driving permits. The start has not helped much to allay those fears.

The stampede at the Uganda Railways Corporation offices, for instance, could have been avoided. Drivers could have been called in an organised way to pick up their permits over a number of days, and not blasting a single message that attracted crowds, breaching the Covid-19 guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.

Also the delay in issuing the permits by months is hard to explain. Government in extending the contract of Face Technologies said this was to ensure the transition was seamless, but stories of drivers waiting from December 2020 to receive permits is hard to explain.

As Ugandans expressed on social media at the time of announcing the awarding of the new contract, Face Technologies had set the bar high and Ugandans expect nothing less. 

Drivers were accustomed to getting their driving permits within a matter of hours, and this did not include paying third parties “something small” to expedite the process as is the tradition in some government agencies.

All Ugandans are asking from USPC is efficiency, orderliness and good customer care. USPC, you can do this.