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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) has asked the government to review the process of issuing digital number plates.
Through the Ministry of Works and Transport together with the Ministry of Security, in 2023 the government embarked on a 10-year deal to install digital tracking chips in all automobile number plates registered in the country, and this was on security grounds, under the Intelligent Transport Management Systems program- ITMS.
The initial phase involved government vehicles, allowing officials to gauge the effectiveness of the new digital number plates before extending the implementation to the general public. In November, issuance was rolled out to private vehicles.
Thadeus Musoke Nagenda, the chairman of KACITA while speaking to journalists said that they petitioned Parliament and the Ministry of Works and Transport over concerns about the system but nothing changed.
He says that many of their members dealing in the motor vehicle and motorcycle businesses are complaining that the system is not operating well and that even the bureaucracy within the system is too much, making the digital number plates very expensive and unfriendly to buyers of new motor vehicles and motorcycles.
Marvin Ayebale, the publicity secretary of the Association of Motor Dealers said that they have given the Government only one month to revisit the system and sensitize the public about it before rolling it out again to the general public.
Ayebale says that the project is not ready to handle the number of vehicles that are entering the country which has caused car dealers a great loss and a slowdown in business.
Suzan Kataike the spokesperson of the Ministry of Works and Transport said that KACITA petitioned parliament in 2023 about the cost of the digital number plates and there was an explanation on how the ministry arrived at the cost. She adds that KACITA just doesn’t want to agree with what the parliament explained to them.
On the issue of sensitization, Kataike acknowledged that there is still more need for sensitization. She explains that during the first phase, priority was given to drivers of the government vehicles, and in the second phase sensitization was given to motorcycle dealers and importers in the country.
She says that they will continue with the sensitizations in different parts of the country.
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