Uganda’s ambitious shift to digital number plates has come under intense parliamentary scrutiny, with lawmakers questioning the Russian company contracted to run the system over mounting delays, soaring costs, security concerns and alleged losses of more than Shs4 billion in tax revenue every week.
Joint Stock Company Global Security, the Russian-based firm awarded a 10-year contract in 2021 to manufacture and install Uganda’s digital number plates under the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS), faced a barrage of questions when its officials appeared before Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure on Monday, September 28, 2026.
The inquiry has brought together complaints from manufacturers, motorists, motor dealers, boda boda riders and other transport-sector players, with concerns ranging from shortages of plates and installation kits to questions over whether the expensive technology is delivering the security benefits used to justify its introduction.
Committee Chairperson Mwine Mpaka said the production crisis had become serious enough to affect government revenue.
“Daily output of number plates has dropped from 350 to under 100 sets on average. This is [as of] 1st June, 2026,” Mpaka said.
“Some up country centres have suspended plate issuance due to lack of installation kits.”
The committee has estimated that the disruptions could be costing the country more than Shs4 billion every week in lost revenue, while Uganda Revenue Authority has been asked to provide detailed figures on the financial impact of the implementation problems.
Monopoly questioned
The Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), the country’s leading manufacturing-sector business organisation, has also asked Parliament to examine the monopoly granted to the Russian contractor.
UMA Board Chairperson Richard Mubiru told MPs that although digital plates were introduced to address security problems associated with fake and duplicated number plates, manufacturers had yet to see the promised breakthrough.
“From where we sit at UMA, we have not seen a breakthrough in that regard,” Mubiru told the committee.
Mubiru said the arrangement had effectively sidelined two companies that had previously manufactured number plates, raising concerns about competition and the effect of concentrating production in one foreign contractor.
UMA Executive Director Ezra Muhumuza told MPs that the shortage was also affecting the wider economy by tying up imported vehicles and depressing business activity.
“Plate scarcity lowers vehicle clearance and sales turnover. Capital remains tied up in imported units held at bonds or yards rather than circulating through trade, transport and production,” Muhumuza said.
He added: “Slower job creation weakens PAYE and consumption taxes, raises income vulnerability and reduces the multiplier from private investment in mobility and tourism.”
The complaints come after motor dealers also demanded in July that the 10-year contract be cancelled over repeated failures to deliver plates.
Shs714,300 plate puts riders under pressure
For Uganda’s boda boda riders, the controversy is not only about delays. They are also questioning the price of complying with the new system.
Frank Mawejje, chairperson of the Alliance Transport and Allied Workers Cooperative Union and the National Boda Boda Union, told MPs that the Shs714,300 charge for a new motorcycle digital number plate was far beyond what many riders could comfortably afford.
The fee is more than 470 per cent higher than the previous Shs125,000 charge, according to figures cited by the riders’ representatives.
Mawejje said most riders earn between Shs20,000 and Shs40,000 a day, meaning registration costs can consume more than a week’s earnings.
He described the situation as creating “tension between compliance and survival”.
On motorcycles valued at around Shs5 million, Mawejje said the charge was particularly difficult to justify and “unfair for boda riders to pay the same as luxury car owners like Land Cruiser owners”.
He said the financial burden becomes even heavier for riders who acquire motorcycles through loans or leases because the increased upfront cost also affects the interest they ultimately pay.
The alliance wants government to subsidise digital plates for low-income riders, introduce instalment payments through savings and credit cooperatives, and establish government-backed financing for new motorcycle buyers affected by the delays.
Riders wait months — some more than a year
The committee heard testimony from riders who said they had paid for digital plates but were still waiting long after completing the required payments.
Hassan Ssentongo, a boda boda rider, said he paid for his digital plate on July 28, 2025, while changing his registration from UBD696N to the digital system.
“I paid for a number plate when I was changing from UBD696N to digital, but I paid on 28 July 2025, on order number S43461 and when I complained, they gave me another assessment that I should pay again,” he said.
Mawejje said many riders had waited several months, with some waiting more than a year. He said riders whose plates had been lost or damaged had also paid for replacements without receiving them promptly.
He warned that the delays were creating an unusual dilemma: riders could be unable to obtain the plates because of system failures, yet still face enforcement for failing to comply.
The alliance said affected riders risked fines, motorcycle impoundment or being stopped from working, even where the delay was beyond their control.
It wants temporary permits issued to riders who have paid but are waiting for plates, and penalties waived where delays are caused by the system.
‘War between Israel and Iran’ explanation
Mawejje also told MPs that riders had received explanations they considered inadequate when they complained about delayed consignments.
“When you complain to these people, they tell you that there is a war between Israel and Iran and the consignments have delayed on the way.”
The contractor has previously attributed some delays to international conflicts affecting shipments and supplies.
Yet lawmakers questioned whether external disruptions adequately explained the scale of the problem and whether Global Security had the capacity required under its contract.
Mpaka put the question directly to the contractor.
“It is also true now that there is a challenge with the number plates. They are delayed. It brings us back to capacity issues. Did you have the capacity then? Do you even have the capacity now?”
Contractor defends its capacity
Global Security’s Project Manager for the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System, Damir Makhmutov, acknowledged that government had written to the company over shortages and delays and had demanded faster action.
But he insisted that the company had the technical and human capacity to handle Uganda’s requirements.
“We have the technical capability. We have enough staff to perform 1,500 installations per day. But for example, as of the 23rd of September, we have done 1,307 installations,” Makhmutov said.
In a separate submission to the committee, Makhmutov said Global Security was servicing a large network of facilities and had maintained operations outside Kampala.
“The company currently serves approximately 102 bonded facilities in Kampala and maintains a permanent operational presence in nine up country regions.”
He added that the contractor conducts mobile operations around the country, “thereby enabling an average of approximately 1500 number-plates installations per day.”
The claims, however, came against the backdrop of the committee’s finding that average daily production had fallen dramatically, leaving MPs questioning the gap between the contractor’s stated capacity and the actual number of plates being produced and installed.
Do the expensive plates actually improve security?
Beyond production and price, Parliament is now examining the central justification for the digital system: security.
The digital plates were introduced partly to make vehicles and motorcycles easier to identify and trace, deter theft and help law enforcement recover stolen assets.
But Mawejje told MPs that his organisation had yet to see evidence that the digital plates themselves were responsible for recovering stolen motorcycles.
“We have never recovered any motorcycle using a digital number plate. Motorcycles are being recovered using cameras,” he said.
UMA’s Muhumuza similarly questioned whether the security promises made when the system was introduced were translating into observable results.
He said the scheme was initially justified by its ability to improve traceability and combat vehicle theft, but added that reports of missing vehicles raised questions about its practical effectiveness.
“The scheme was justified by traceability, theft deterrence and recovery. Sector reports of missing vehicles without demonstrable tracing or recovery indicate a gap between promised capability and observable outcomes.”
Makhmutov drew a distinction between the contractor’s technological role and police investigations.
“For us as service providers, we are not involved in crime intelligence and case resolving. For us, the task is to provide the technical solution; the software and hardware and all needed solutions plus the maintenance.”
Mpaka said Parliament would therefore have to establish whether the security component actually works before accepting the explanation that the technology justifies the high price.
“Several of the stakeholders we have met alleged that it is not working. We are yet to confirm, but it is one of the reasons as to why the cost was pushed to Shs714,000 or Shs715,000,” Mpaka said.
He added: “So now eventually we cannot hide away from the security component. We have to establish whether it is working to justify this cost.”
The committee plans to engage the Ministry of Internal Affairs to establish whether the security features are functioning as intended.
A tracking system that cannot find vehicles?
The committee also heard complaints about the system’s ability to locate vehicles.
Kezekia Bwire, Vice Chairperson of the Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association, told MPs that some clients had struggled to get responses from the contractor and that several vehicles and motorcycles had gone untraced.
“Hon. Waluswaka [James] has a digital number plate. Can you, as Joint Stock, use your liaison person at police to track the vehicle and tell us where it is?” Bwire asked.
During the meeting, MPs were told of a case involving a vehicle deliberately kept in a garage to test whether it could be located through the digital tracking system. According to the account presented to the committee, the vehicle could not be traced.
The episode intensified questions about whether the tracking capability being used to justify the system’s cost is delivering the results expected.
The boda boda economic crisis
The riders’ concerns go beyond registration fees.
Mawejje said system outages, verification failures and long queues were consuming working hours for riders who depend on their motorcycles for daily income.
A motorcycle that cannot be cleared, registered or fitted with a required plate cannot generate income, yet riders who purchased their motorcycles through credit still have to meet loan repayments.
The alliance said some newly imported motorcycles were stuck in bonded warehouses because they could not be released without the required plates. That, it argued, was affecting importers, financiers and businesses that depend on motorcycle sales.
The problem was particularly acute for motorcycles registered in the names of financiers, employers, lessors or fleet owners, as well as riders living far from installation centres.
The alliance wants installation centres expanded to every division and municipality, mobile registration teams deployed to busy and rural areas, and fast-tracked replacement of plates for riders who have already paid.
It also wants plates issued within seven to 14 days and a public dashboard showing the number of plates produced, installed and still pending.
Privacy fears emerge
The controversy has also opened a new debate over data protection.
Because the digital system can be used to track vehicles, Mawejje said riders were concerned about who could access their information, how long data would be retained and whether the tracking system could be abused.
Some riders feared the technology could be used “to target riders unfairly”, he said.
He argued that many cases of non-compliance were caused by lack of information rather than deliberate refusal to follow the law.
“confusion, not defiance”
The alliance wants government to publish a data-protection policy explaining what information is collected, who can access it, how long it is stored and what safeguards exist against misuse.
It has also proposed an independent oversight committee involving boda boda representatives and regular public reporting on how the system is being used.
A system riders say could work
Despite the long list of grievances, Mawejje said transport-sector operators were not opposed to digitisation itself.
The alliance acknowledged that a properly functioning system could help combat motorcycle theft, improve tracing, support police investigations and reduce the long-standing problem of duplicated number plates.
The riders instead want the rollout redesigned around affordability, reliability, transparency and consultation.
Mawejje said the current implementation had “eroded trust and disrupted livelihoods”, while calling for reforms that would “strengthen – not destabilise – livelihoods”.
The alliance, which says it represents more than 1.2 million boda bodas, 21,000 taxis and 900 buses, has submitted more than 25 recommendations to Parliament.
Among them are temporary permits for riders affected by delays, compensation for people who have paid but cannot work, customer-service desks at installation centres, a complaints ticketing system, a 24-hour technical helpline and awareness campaigns in local languages through community radio.
It also wants contractors placed on performance contracts with clear service standards and penalties for failure to meet agreed targets.
Parliament widens the investigation
The digital number plate controversy has now moved beyond complaints from individual motorists into a broader examination of whether Uganda is receiving value for money from the project.
Security Minister Gen Jim Muhwezi appeared before the committee on August 26 and requested more time for government agencies to prepare responses to the questions raised.
Works and Transport Minister Fred Byamukama had earlier given Global Security until August 30 to resolve production problems and restore a steady supply of plates.
The committee is expected to meet officials from the Ministry of Works and Transport, Ministry of Security and Ministry of Internal Affairs as it continues its inquiry.
It has also, through the Speaker of Parliament, requested an opportunity to interface with President Museveni before presenting a comprehensive report to the House.
For now, the Russian contractor remains at the centre of a parliamentary storm involving a Shs714,300 price tag, complaints of year-long delays, questions over security effectiveness, a production shortfall and claims that the wider economy could be losing more than Shs4 billion a week in revenue.
The committee’s final report will determine whether the problems are primarily those of capacity, implementation, oversight, contract design or the technology itself — and whether Uganda’s costly digital number plate experiment is delivering the security and economic benefits promised when the project was introduced.
It should be remembered that there was an ugly ‘fight’ between two Ugandan generals over the Russian company’s controversial contract, with a minister and general’s letter to Museveni, pointing out why it should the deal should be covered, reportedly blocked from reaching the president, as detailed Here and There.
You can read about how many billions the Russian company’s owners will keep pocketing amidst cries from bodaboda riders and vehicle owners Here and There.
