The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | COMMENT | What began as a parliamentary investigation into delays in Uganda’s Digital Number Plate Project is increasingly at risk of losing sight of the project itself.
Weeks of hearings before Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure, chaired by Mwine Mpaka, have focused heavily on the price, production and availability of digital number plates.
Yet this raises a more fundamental question: is Parliament investigating a number plate, or a nationwide digital vehicle security infrastructure?
The plate motorists see is only one component. Behind it is a hardware and software system connecting vehicle identification, tracking technology, communications, data processing and Police operations.
MPs Asked for Proof. They Got It
One of the central questions raised during the hearings was whether the security technology actually works.
Police Director of ICT AIGP Felix Baryamwisaki told the Committee that 337 of 375 stolen motor vehicles had been recovered, representing a 90 percent recovery rate. Parliament’s own reporting records the same figures. Committee members then went to the Police Command Centre at Naguru to test the system themselves, using their own vehicle registration numbers rather than relying on a prepared demonstration.
The vehicles were identified and tracked. Mpaka subsequently acknowledged that the Committee had established that cars and motorcycles could be tracked.
There are still areas requiring improvement, including motorcycle recovery and Police response to system-generated alerts. But these are questions about how to improve a functioning system, rather than whether the technology works at all.
A Number Plate Is Only What You Can See
One risk emerging from the parliamentary debate is that the Digital Number Plate Project is increasingly being discussed as if Government had simply purchased more expensive pieces of metal. It has not. The plate is only the visible part of a much larger infrastructure combining secure vehicle identification, GPS tracking, communications technology, data processing and integration with Police command centers.
Parliament’s own records describe an installation kit that includes not only registration plates, but a tracker, SIM chip, Bluetooth beacons and other components connected to the Police infrastructure.
The question is therefore whether MPs are evaluating the price of a number plate, or the cost and performance of the entire digital security infrastructure behind it.
The Naguru visit demonstrated that distinction. MPs were not shown simply how a plate is manufactured. They saw how the wider system identifies and tracks vehicles and supports Police operations.
Uganda is not simply replacing one registration plate with another. It is building a digital layer around vehicle identification and law enforcement.
The Operational Record Has Changed
The project has faced shortages and delays, and those problems deserve scrutiny. But scrutiny also requires acknowledging when the evidence changes.
The production backlog that dominated earlier criticism was reported cleared in August. Ministry data showed average registration and fitment time at Kampala bonds falling from 19 days in December 2025 to two days by September 2026.
The next target is 24-hour vehicle registration and number plate installation by the end of 2026, once the required government procedures and approvals are completed, alongside expansion of the fitment network nationwide.
The question for Parliament is therefore not only why delays occurred, but whether corrective measures are working and what still needs to be improved.
More Than a Registration Project
The Digital Number Plate Project was conceived as more than a vehicle-registration exercise. Its purpose is tied to national security and the modernization of Uganda’s vehicle identification infrastructure.
That makes parliamentary scrutiny essential. But a complex digital security platform cannot be assessed only through the price of its most visible component.
The debate should also examine whether the infrastructure works, how data is protected, how effectively Police use the information it generates and whether Uganda is developing the local expertise needed to operate such systems.
These are also questions of digital sovereignty: who controls and protects Uganda’s transport and security data.
Parliament Should Follow the Evidence
The evidence presented so far shows both sides. There have been shortages, delays and areas requiring improvement. But there are also documented vehicle recoveries, significantly shorter service times and a digital security system that members of the Committee have now tested themselves.
The Digital Number Plate Project should be judged as a complete technological system: what works, what does not, what has improved and what still needs to change.
After weeks of hearings and Parliament’s own verification at Naguru, the danger is that a debate about the price of a number plate obscures the much bigger question before Parliament: the performance and future of a nationwide digital security infrastructure already deployed in Uganda. It should be judged by its results, not just by the piece of metal motorists can see.
