Uganda’s digital number plates project was presented as a major security intervention designed to help Police track stolen vehicles, identify cars linked to crime and strengthen the country’s surveillance capabilities. Nearly three years after its official launch, however, the programme is under parliamentary scrutiny over its implementation, procurement arrangements, cost and overall performance.
At the centre of the unfolding controversy are three retired generals who occupied key ministerial positions when the project was being developed and implemented: Maj Gen (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire, Maj Gen (Rtd) Jim Muhwezi and Gen (Rtd) Edward Katumba Wamala.
Otafiire was Minister of Internal Affairs, the ministry under which the Uganda Police Force operates. Muhwezi was, and remains, Minister of Security, while Katumba headed the Ministry of Works and Transport, which oversees transport policy and regulation. Otafiire and Muhwezi are veterans of President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army bush war.
Their positions placed them at different points in a government initiative intended to integrate vehicle identification and tracking technology into security operations. Today, their contrasting accounts of the project are helping frame questions about whether it has delivered on its promises.
The project, officially launched in November 2023, involves Joint Stock Company Global Security (JSCGS), a Russian company whose role has become central to the controversy surrounding the digital number plates.
Parliament is now examining the procurement arrangements, the cost of the plates and the system’s practical capabilities. The three (former) line ministers have offered different perspectives on what the technology was supposed to achieve and whether it is delivering the expected results.
Katumba: ‘The whole project was mainly a security-related project’
Katumba has defended the original purpose of the digital number plates initiative, explaining that it originated from a directive by President Museveni to establish an integrated vehicle-monitoring system to support Police investigations.
“The whole project was mainly a security-related project,” Katumba told Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee.
He explained that several government institutions participated in the initiative, including Police, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, the Ministry of Finance and the Solicitor General.
Katumba defended the project as a “key security intervention aimed at detecting crime through integrated vehicle monitoring.”
He further said the “arrangements also envisaged technology transfer and eventual involvement of the National Enterprise Corporation.”
His explanation places the initiative within the government’s broader security agenda rather than treating digital number plates simply as a transport-sector modernisation project.
The distinction matters because the justification for the investment rests substantially on the ability of the technology to help investigators detect crime and recover stolen vehicles.
If the system is primarily a security intervention, Parliament must establish whether it is delivering the capabilities that justified the investment and whether the contractual and financial arrangements support that objective.
Katumba’s defence comes as legislators examine the project’s operational performance alongside questions about procurement, pricing and implementation.
His account also highlights the involvement of several institutions, raising questions about how responsibility for implementing the project and ensuring its effectiveness was distributed across government.
Muhwezi: ‘The system is working; it covers the whole country’
While Katumba has defended the project’s security rationale, Muhwezi has gone further by insisting that the tracking system is operational and has helped Police recover stolen vehicles.
On September 30, 2026, the Security minister appeared before the Physical Infrastructure Committee alongside Minister of State for Internal Affairs Juma Witonze and Minister of State for Works and Transport responsible for Transport Julius Wandera.
The legislators wanted to establish whether the tracking technology attached to the digital number plates was actually working.
James Waluswaka, the NRM MP for Bunyole West County, raised concerns about the system’s ability to deliver on its original security promise.
“I need an answer from the Minister in regards to this, because I have serious questions. Do these trackers really work?” he asked.
Muhwezi responded by insisting that the technology could operate throughout Uganda and beyond its borders.
“The system is working; it covers the whole country. A Police vehicle was stolen and the system traced it to Kenya, and it was recovered because of the digital plates. So, it covers Uganda and beyond.”
Police also presented figures intended to demonstrate the system’s effectiveness.
Assistant Inspector General of Police Felix Baryamwisaki, the Director of ICT who manages the Integrated Transport Management System, told MPs that 337 of the 375 reported stolen motor vehicles had been recovered, representing approximately 90 per cent.
The results were considerably lower for motorcycles. Police had recovered 174 of the 782 motorcycles fitted with digital number plates, representing a recovery rate of about 22 per cent.
“This one will be solved. It is very low and this is countrywide. The tracker is in the GPS and not cameras,” Baryamwisaki said.
The figures suggest that the tracking technology has assisted in recovering stolen vehicles, although motorcycle recoveries remain a significant challenge.
They do not, however, settle the wider questions about the project’s cost, procurement arrangements or value for money. Those issues remain central to Parliament’s investigation.
Otafiire: ‘There was no value added’
If Katumba has defended the original security rationale and Muhwezi has insisted that the technology works, Otafiire has offered a sharply different assessment.
The former Internal Affairs minister questioned whether the system delivered meaningful improvements over existing technology, describing it as “useless” while acknowledging that he did not know its current performance.
“I don’t know whether they have improved, whether they have made it even better,” Otafiire told Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee.
His criticism focused on what he said he had observed during the project’s earlier implementation, including the installation of what he described as only two computers at the Police Command Centre.
“You know, they brought two computers. I’ve been away for a little time, so I don’t know if it would have improved, but my honest view is that there was no value added,” he said.
Otafiire questioned the sophistication of the technology, comparing it unfavourably with a commercial transport platform.
“Uber is a more advanced system than what we have on the ground because these are just the trackers,” he told MPs.
He also challenged the decision to move away from the previous number plate supplier.
“Why did we abandon Wavamunno who were making number plates?” he asked.
Businessman Gordon Wavamunno’s GM Tumpeco had supplied vehicle registration plates under a longstanding government contract dating back to 2004.
Otafiire’s remarks have particular significance because his concerns predate the current parliamentary investigation.
In August 2023, while serving as Internal Affairs minister, he appeared before the same committee and questioned aspects of the procurement arrangements and Police involvement in the project.
The digital number plate programme was officially launched in November 2023 and continued expanding during his tenure, which ended in June 2026.
That timeline raises questions about what happened after Otafiire expressed reservations. What action followed his earlier testimony? Were the concerns he raised addressed before the programme was rolled out? And how were the reported shortcomings handled as implementation continued?
These questions require answers from the relevant government institutions and procurement records.
Otafiire’s latest testimony also comes with an important qualification: his criticism concerns the system’s earlier implementation, and he has acknowledged that he does not know whether its performance has since improved.
His account therefore contrasts with Muhwezi’s assertion that the system works across the country and Katumba’s defence of its security purpose.
The Russian contractor and the Shs714,000 question
Beyond the disagreement among the generals, Parliament’s investigation has focused on the contractor and the financial arrangements underpinning the programme.
JSCGS, the Russian company handling the project, has come under scrutiny as legislators examine the procurement, contractual and operational framework.
The questions extend beyond whether a vehicle can be tracked. MPs also want to understand how the cost of the plates was determined and whether the government’s arrangements represent value for money.
During the September 30 proceedings, legislators questioned the Shs714,000 cost of digital number plates, particularly the decision to charge the same amount for vehicles and motorcycles.
Metrine Nanzala, the NRM MP for Namisindwa County, challenged the pricing structure, arguing that it did not adequately account for the financial circumstances of motorcycle riders.
“Really, they sat and they had to come to an agreement that vehicles should pay the same amount as boda bodas, and they did not consider the fact that boda riders are low-income earners,” Nanzala said.
The issue is particularly important for motorcycle riders who depend on their vehicles for their daily income. Parliament must establish the basis for the charges and whether the pricing structure is justified.
The Ministry of Works and Transport has, meanwhile, reported improvements in the time applicants take to receive their plates.
Winston Katushabe, the ministry’s Commissioner for Transport Regulation and Safety, told MPs that the average waiting period had fallen from 19 days in December 2025 to two days in September 2026. At the Malaba and Mutukula One Stop border posts, he said, the process took hours.
The shorter waiting period represents an improvement in service delivery, but it does not resolve the separate questions surrounding procurement, pricing and the system’s overall effectiveness.
Parliament puts the technology to the test
The competing accounts have prompted legislators to move beyond testimony and examine the technology directly.
After receiving Police recovery figures on September 30, committee members visited the Police Command Centre at Naguru on October 2 for a demonstration of the system.
The visit was intended to establish how vehicles are identified through their registration plates, how information is processed and how the technology supports Police operations.
Committee chairperson Mwine Mpaka said the demonstration confirmed that the technology could track cars and motorcycles, although questions about the wider project remained unresolved.
“Yes, indeed, we have established that cars and motorbikes can be tracked. The issue of digital number plates is clearly important. We just need to see how we can improve the system,” Mpaka said.
He had earlier made it clear that the committee wanted to test the system’s capabilities rather than rely solely on assurances from officials.
“We shall have our own number plates. Do not expect to show us your own number plates. We want to see if you are tracking,” Mwine Mpaka said.
The demonstration was an important step in establishing that the technology could track vehicles. However, technical capability is only one part of the investigation.
A system can track vehicles and still raise questions about how it was procured, what it costs and whether its contractual arrangements are justified.
The questions facing the three generals
The three generals have offered different perspectives on a project that developed during their time in government.
Katumba has defended its original security rationale, Muhwezi has insisted that the system works, while Otafiire has questioned its value and the decision to abandon the previous number plate supplier.
Police figures suggest that the tracking system has helped recover stolen vehicles, although motorcycle recovery rates remain considerably lower. Parliament’s demonstration also established that the technology could track vehicles.
What remains unresolved is whether the project was procured on terms that represented value for money, whether the cost of the plates is justified, whether the contractor has fulfilled the relevant obligations and whether the initiative has delivered the full security capabilities promised at its inception.
The ministers’ different accounts also make institutional responsibility important. Because several ministries and government agencies participated in the project, a complete assessment must establish who made particular decisions, who was responsible for implementing them and how concerns raised during the process were handled.
Otafiire’s earlier objections provide a starting point for examining whether concerns raised before the official launch were addressed. Establishing what followed, however, requires documentary evidence and testimony from the relevant institutions.
For the three generals, Parliament’s investigation provides an opportunity to explain the decisions made during their respective tenures and clarify how the government’s security ambitions translated into the project now under scrutiny.
The ultimate test is not simply whether a digital number plate can help Police locate a stolen vehicle. It is whether the entire arrangement, from procurement and pricing to implementation and technology transfer, can be justified by the results it delivers.
As Parliament continues its inquiry, that is the question the government must answer.
Relatedly, auditors were detained for Failing to Audit the digital number plates project, as reported Here.
