Prime
MPs probe digital number plates mess
A police officer displays stolen number plates in Jinja City last year. The government has suspended the issuance of new car number plates, earlier planned to start on July 1, 2023. PHOTO/FILFE
What you need to know:
- Mr Ibanda Rwemulikya (Ntoroko County) said: “People are poor and cannot afford high fees’’.
- Mr Tony Awany (Nwoya County) similarly added : “I agree with you, the fees are too exorbitant”.
Unresolved concerns over digital number plates has pushed a section of stakeholders to appeal to Parliament to help them push the government to address and come up with resolutions over the plates.
Led by Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) Chief Executive Officer Abel Mwesigye, the petitioners appeared on Wednesday before Parliament’s Infrastructure Committee.
Mr Mwesigye in his petition said the government should “reconsider the abnormal costs of the digital plates.”
The development comes as the issuance of the digital number plates was pushed to October 31 after failing to beat the July 1 deadline.
The petitioners said much as the project’s objective aims at improving security in the country, there are still several unresolved inconsistencies in its implementation .
The government in 2019 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Russian company, Joint Stock Company Global Security, to install the digital trackers with the intention of curbing the high profile crimes. The contract is 10 years.
Despite the agreement, doubts have continued shadowing the project with concerns over failure by the government to meet the required milestones, including among other things setting up of installation centres, setting up a factory to manufacture the digital number plates, and doing a countrywide sensitisation exercise.
To curb some of these worries, a team of Ugandan officials in March went on a fact-finding mission in Moscow, the capital of Russia.
The officials were, however, not able to see any of the new vehicle number plates, a development that this Publication reported on May 15.
Rather, the Ugandan registration plate manufacturing process was instead being undertaken in Poland, a country in Central Europe, due to the sanctions imposed on Russia by other European Union countries in response to the military hostility against Ukraine.
By rushing to implement the exercise, Uganda Revenue Authority (Ura) officials later said it would undermine revenue collections and cause public unrest, reasoning, “Failure to deliver new digital number plates on time can stall business operations and cause a public uproar.”
Both motorcycle and vehicle owners will be required to pay an amount of Shs735,000 for the digital number plates.
The current number plates cost Shs125,000 for motorcycles and Shs137,000 for cars.
“The costs of the new digital number plates should [remain] the same as the current number plates,” Mr Mwesigye said.
And in case of a justifiable need to increase the amount, Mr Mwesigye added: “We do recommend that the new number plates cost should not exceed Shs200,000 so as to keep the costs within reach of the average Ugandans.’’
The lack of enough sensitisation of the digital number plates, Mr Mwesigye emphasised, will also end up creating massive business disruptions, revenue losses and a large public outcry.
On his part, Mr Marvin Ayebale, the publicity secretary at Associated Motor Dealers, said the main contractor behind the project, Joint Stock Company Global Security, should also be invited to explain themselves before the committee.
“I want the company to come before us and explain their credibility and ability to manage this project,” Mr Ayebale said.
The company was awarded a 10-year contract with a Russian company to install the digital trackers.
On penalties attached to the digital implementation exercise, Mr Blair Micheal Ntambi, a legal officer at SafeBoda Uganda said among the most challenging is the one attached to the unauthorised removal or tampering with a registration plate.
“The regulations state that if you want to tamper with your registration number plate, you must get authorisation, in writing, from the chief licensing office. If you have to write to the Ministry [of Works] and wait for the Chief licensing officer to respond to you, it might be a challenge in communication because there is no model provided for in the schedule through which someone applies, including no address,” Mr Ntambi said.
He then added: “And they are saying that if you do not write to the chief licensing officer and get authorisation, you will be liable to pay Shs2 million.”
Mr Ntambi requested the Committee to ask the government to rectify this provision.
MPs on the committee nodded in agreement by also faulting the government for not availing enough information to the public over the plates and additionally charging high fees.
Ms Joan Alobo (Soroti City) said the government had indeed not done enough sensitisation exercise “by involving the people affected”.
Mr Ibanda Rwemulikya (Ntoroko County) said: “People are poor and cannot afford high fees’’.
Mr Tony Awany (Nwoya County) similarly added : “I agree with you, the fees are too exorbitant”.
The chairperson of the Committee, Mr Dan Kimosho Atwijukire (Kazo County), said they took note of their concerns and will formally invite the ministries of Works and Finance and other concerned stakeholders to also hear their side of the story before making a report to present on the floor of Parliament in the next few days.
Kampala City Traders Association in their petition said the government has not fully rolled out on sensitising the masses about the project.
