Former Works and Transport Minister Gen. Katumba Wamala and former Internal Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire have given contrasting accounts of the functionality of Uganda’s Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS), with Otafiire questioning its effectiveness in tracking vehicles while Gen Katumba defended the project as a security intervention.
The contrast emerged during a meeting of Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee, which has been investigating the controversial digital number plates project for nearly two months.
While Gen Katumba said the system was conceived to strengthen crime detection through integrated vehicle monitoring, Otafiire told MPs that tests he witnessed raised doubts about whether the technology could reliably identify the location of vehicles after their number plates were removed.
The contrasting testimonies have renewed questions about whether the system delivers the security capabilities government promised when it contracted Russian firm Joint Stock Company Global Security to implement the project.
Otafiire, now Minister of Water and Environment, said the technology installed under ITMS appeared to function more like a fleet management system than the sophisticated security platform that had been presented to government.
He told MPs that police had indicated that the system’s capabilities were inferior to those of technology already available to commercial transport operators.
“Uber is a more advanced system than what we have on the ground because these are just the trackers,” Otafiire said.
He further claimed that the system could locate a vehicle but could not reliably establish its movement when the number plates were detached.
To illustrate his concerns, Otafiire recounted an experiment in which number plates were removed from his vehicle and taken to his office. When the team asked the system to locate the vehicle, he said, it reported that the vehicle was in Kololo, despite the plates being in his office.
The incident, according to Otafiire, raised questions about the system’s ability to provide accurate vehicle-location information when the plates were no longer attached to the vehicle.
“I don't know how, maybe they have improved since I left,” he told MPs, acknowledging that the technology might have changed since his tenure at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Otafiire said his reservations began before implementation, when he questioned whether the proposed Russian technology would be compatible with Uganda’s existing CCTV surveillance infrastructure, which he said relied on Chinese technology.
He also questioned the procurement process, arguing that police, the intended user of the system, had not been adequately involved in negotiations with the contractor.
According to Otafiire, police officers who participated in a due diligence visit told him they had not taken part in the negotiations.
He said he also sought opinions from researchers, police officers and contacts in Kenya, but remained unconvinced that the proposed system would work as intended.
Despite his reservations, Otafiire said implementation proceeded after he came under pressure to allow the project to move forward.
Gen Katumba, who is now Minister of Public Service, offered a different perspective, tracing ITMS to government efforts to address rising insecurity and improve the investigation of crimes involving vehicles and motorcycles.
He told the committee that President Yoweri Museveni had directed government to adopt technology capable of tracking vehicles and supporting police investigations, while discouraging government agencies from developing separate systems.
“The whole project was mainly a security-related project,” Katumba said, arguing that digital number plates were only one component of a broader system intended to improve security.
He explained that the initiative brought together several government agencies, including police, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, the Ministry of Finance and the Solicitor General.
Katumba also said the original plan envisaged technology transfer to Uganda, with the National Enterprise Corporation eventually taking over aspects of the project, including number plate production.
The two former ministers’ accounts, however, differed on the central question of whether the technology could deliver the expected security benefits.
Whereas Katumba emphasised the project’s security objectives and the need to integrate vehicle monitoring with other government systems, Otafiire questioned whether the installed technology was sufficiently capable of achieving those objectives.
Their testimonies do not independently establish whether the system is currently functional or whether the problems described by Otafiire have since been resolved.
The committee is expected to examine the ministers’ submissions alongside evidence from ministry officials and other stakeholders as it investigates the procurement, implementation and performance of the system.
The inquiry comes amid wider concerns about the cost of digital number plates, the contractor’s role and the financial arrangements under which the project was introduced.
At the centre of the investigation is whether the system provides value for money and delivers the vehicle-monitoring and crime-detection capabilities that government cited as the justification for its introduction.