MPs Push for Meeting with Museveni on Digital Number Plate Inquiry

The Physical Infrastructure Committee of Parliament is seeking an audience with President Yoweri Museveni before concluding its investigation into the controversial Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS), amid questions over the project’s procurement, financial arrangements and compliance with the law.

Committee chairperson Mwine Mpaka said the lawmakers intend to meet Museveni before presenting their findings to Parliament next week. The committee has so far engaged 19 stakeholders and held a closed-door meeting with Auditor General Edward Akol.

The investigation seeks to establish how the project, initially conceived as a national security intervention to identify and track vehicles linked to criminal activity, was implemented and whether the institutions involved complied with the law in awarding and executing the contract.

The inquiry comes against the backdrop of a government initiative launched in 2018 to strengthen security surveillance following a series of high-profile crimes involving motor vehicles and motorcycles. The initiative was intended to enable security agencies to identify vehicles suspected of involvement in criminal activities, track their movements and respond more quickly to security incidents.

In June 2018, President Museveni outlined vehicle and motorcycle tracking, alongside CCTV surveillance and other measures, as part of the government’s efforts to combat crime. Against this background, the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian firm Joint Stock Company Global Security (JSCGS) to explore cooperation in implementing the ITMS.

The government subsequently entered into a 10-year agreement with the Russian company on July 23, 2021, for the installation of digital number plates and associated tracking technology. The system was expected to enable security agencies to identify vehicles through surveillance infrastructure and access real-time tracking information.

However, the project has since attracted scrutiny over the procurement process, the contractor’s capacity, implementation delays, the cost to motorists and the legal basis for its execution.

The controversy intensified this month after Attorney General Sam Mayanja told the committee that the 2021 agreement was legally null and unenforceable because it contravened existing laws and failed to satisfy fundamental contractual requirements.

Mpaka said the committee was now focusing on establishing the facts surrounding the project’s implementation rather than revisiting the rationale for introducing digital number plates or debating which company should have been awarded the contract.

He also revealed that the Office of the Auditor General had not completed a comprehensive audit of the project, despite the committee initially giving the national audit office five days to conduct preliminary investigations.

Mpaka said the five-day period was insufficient to examine the full scope of the project’s financial transactions and contractual arrangements. He added that the committee would rely on documentary evidence to establish the facts before reaching its conclusions.

As part of the investigation, the committee has obtained statements from all three banks in which the company associated with the project holds accounts. The documents are being analysed to establish the transactions undertaken, the amounts collected from motorists and the outstanding financial obligations arising from the project’s business model.

He declined to disclose how much money had been collected from the sale of digital number plates or how much the company expected to recover, saying the findings would be presented to Parliament.

The committee is also examining what Mpaka described as numerous errors in drafting the contract, although he declined to speculate on whether they were deliberate.

“There were mistakes done in the drafting of this contract. So many mistakes, which you will see in the report. As to whether they were intentional, these are all findings of the committee,” he said.

The proposed meeting with Museveni is also expected to address concerns about how presidential directives are interpreted and implemented by public officials. Mpaka said the committee had encountered instances in which officials appeared to regard presidential directives as taking precedence over their technical responsibilities and legal obligations.

He said the lawmakers intended to raise the matter with the President to establish how the project was initiated and implemented and to clarify the respective responsibilities of the government institutions involved.

The committee has also faced challenges in accessing information because the project was classified as security-sensitive, requiring lawmakers to exercise caution over what could be disclosed publicly.