The minister also questioned the contractor’s claims about the origin and manufacture of the equipment, citing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Poland and doubts about whether the technology was being manufactured or merely assembled.
Water and Environment Minister Kahinda Otafiire has told Parliament that he questioned the feasibility of the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS) project from the outset, warning that the proposed technology might not be compatible with existing police surveillance infrastructure and that key security agencies had been excluded from negotiations.
Appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure, Maj Gen Otafiire said his concerns began when security officers returned from preliminary site visits and confirmed that they had not participated in negotiating the agreement.
“When they came back, I asked them whether they had been involved in the negotiations. They were negative. They said no, they want to be involved in the negotiations..." said Otafiire, who was Internal Affairs minister at the time the project came up.
"Then I resisted because I said what is coming from Russia does not necessarily match with what we have on the ground, because the technology we have is Chinese. The cameras we have are Chinese technology and they may not be compatible."
The minister also questioned the contractor’s claims about the origin and manufacture of the equipment, citing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Poland and doubts about whether the technology was being manufactured or merely assembled.
“What immediately crossed my mind was this is impossible. Because Poland is at war with Russia, that war with Ukraine, under sanctions, there is no way a Russian company can operate in Poland. Two, they told me the equipment they were bringing was being assembled. There was no manufacturing,” he said.
Otafiire said he sought independent assessments from Makerere University, the police and regional counterparts to establish whether the proposed system could work with Uganda’s existing infrastructure.
He told the committee that the consultations reinforced his reservations, adding that his counterparts in Kenya had reported difficulties with a similar system.
“And I engaged Makerere University, I engaged some other people who know, I engaged the Police. I said, do you think this thing is feasible? They said no, it can't work. I engaged Makerere University, they told me the same. I engaged my colleagues in Kenya, they also said they had tried and it had failed,” Otafiire said.
Despite his objections, the project eventually proceeded to implementation. Otafiire said subsequent police assessments raised further questions about whether the system delivered the capabilities promised under the expensive project.
He told lawmakers that police found the installed technology functioned largely as a fleet-management system rather than the advanced transport-monitoring platform presented to the government.
“Now when it was finally installed, what the Police discovered was that the so-called Intelligent Transport System was what we call fleet management... And the Police told me Uber operates superior technology than what we are paying for. Uber is a more advanced system than what we have. Because these are just trackers. And indeed, when you start the trackers, I'm told these people just remove them and throw them away,” he said.
Otafiire’s testimony adds to mounting scrutiny of the ITMS project, which has faced parliamentary questions over its procurement process, financial arrangements, local manufacturing commitments and the performance of the installed technology.
The committee is examining whether the project delivered the capabilities intended by government and whether the relevant institutions adequately assessed the technology before committing public resources.
Otafiire’s account places the role of security agencies and the technical compatibility of the system at the centre of the inquiry, with lawmakers seeking to establish how concerns raised before implementation were handled.