Minister dragged to court over mandatory vehicle inspections

Four concerned citizens have petitioned the High Court in Kampala seeking orders to have Works and Transport Minister Eng. Monica Azuba Ntege prosecuted over planned nationwide mandatory motor -vehicle inspection.

The citizens led by  Aaron Izimba also want orders permanently blocking the vehicle inspection, and  the  immediate cancellation of a contract signed on behalf of government between the Works and Transport Ministry and Switzerland-based  Societe Generale De Surveillance (SGS)  in September this year.

Izimba and colleagues contend that the government already has a motor vehicle inspection project run by the Uganda Police Inspector of Vehicles at Naguru, Jinja, Mbarara and Mbale, under the Traffic and Road Safety Act. In their petition, they said the deal with SGS is a deliberate move “to rob Ugandans of over 200 billion shillings paid for several inspection services to enrich an individual company”.

The plaintiffs have also sued the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) for “neglecting its mandatory duty to collect taxes on behalf of the public, and instead let its powers of collecting such exorbitant fees be usurped by a private company”.

They want court to declare the inspection project illegal and instead order the Works and Transport Ministry to take measures to mitigate major causes of road accidents, such as drunkenness, untrained drivers and marking of black spots.

The mandatory annual vehicle inspection exercise was rolled out by Uganda Bureau of Standards in September this year and is aimed at taking off the road vehicles in dangerous mechanical condition, to reduce road accidents.

Inspection fees will be paid and defaulters will be made to pay hefty fines.

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editor@independent.co.ug