Uganda Questions US$25M Russian Plate System

Ugandan lawmakers questioned the legal basis and the cost of a Russian-built system that puts tracking devices on the country’s vehicle number plates. A former internal affairs minister told them the US$25 million system was little more than fleet management.

Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure questioned current and former ministers in Kampala on Tuesday, 13 October, about Uganda’s Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS). The project fits vehicles with new number plates carrying tracking devices and is run by Joint Stock Company Global Security, a Russian firm.

For US readers, the case shows how a Russian company won a security contract in East Africa, in a country that is also a long-standing US security partner. It also raises questions about who controls data on the movements of every registered vehicle in the country.

Major General Kahinda Otafiire, now minister for water and environment, previously ran the internal affairs ministry and opposed the project at the time. He told the committee the police were not involved in the procurement and questioned what the country got for US$25 million.

Otafiire said he resisted the project because the Russian technology was not compatible with the Chinese cameras the police already used. He added that he later faced pressure to let it go ahead despite his doubts.

He described a test in which plates were taken off a vehicle parked in Kololo and carried to his office on Jinja Road. The system still showed the vehicle in Kololo, which he said proved it tracked the device rather than the car.

Otafiire summed it up in plain words: “So what they are selling to us is a tracking system.” He also asked why Uganda had dropped local plate makers who employed Ugandans in favour of imported plates.

Edward Katumba Wamala, a retired general and former works minister, gave a different view. He said police tracking had helped trace the people who nearly killed him in a gun attack in Kampala in 2021, though he could not say whether this project was the reason.

Deputy committee chair William Tiyo called the original contract “a total fiasco, a total failure.” He argued that a proposed further investment of US$158 million was meant to fix weaknesses in the first phase.

Committee chair Mwine Mpaka asked how the government reached a financial model of US$257 million when the contractor’s feasibility estimate was about US$123 million, Nile Post reported. That leaves a gap of US$134 million that officials were asked to explain.

Mpaka also asked whether due diligence on the company was done as required by the Public Private Partnership Act, and whether the Cabinet approved the contract and a later amendment. He said the company had told lawmakers it never promised “digital” number plates, and asked who had started using the term.

Another lawmaker asked whether a presidential directive could override the procurement rules in that law. Others questioned why fees paid by motorists go to a private company instead of the Uganda Revenue Authority, the national tax agency.

During an earlier site visit, officials described a facility at Kyambogo in Kampala, meant to support local plate production, as a warehouse and temporary assembly hub. None of the questions raised at the hearing amounts to a finding that the law was broken.

Uganda has been governed since 1986 by President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement, which holds a large majority in Parliament. Its committees can summon ministers and officials and make recommendations to the full House.

The Public Private Partnership Act sets out how the state may sign long-term deals with private firms, including feasibility studies and checks on bidders. The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act governs how public money is spent on goods and services.

Russia has expanded its security and technology links across Africa, and this hearing shows how such deals can face pushback from local lawmakers. A check of the US Treasury’s sanctions list on 14 October found no entry for Joint Stock Company Global Security.

For US companies, the dispute is a reminder that public-private partnerships in Uganda can be reopened by Parliament years after signing. Investors bidding for similar deals face questions about feasibility studies, Cabinet approval and how fees are collected.

For Americans living in or visiting Uganda, the hearing does not change entry or safety rules. It does show that a foreign-supplied tracking system now sits behind the country’s vehicle plates, and that lawmakers doubt what it does.

The full contract, including the US$257 million financial model, has not been published. It is not known how much has been paid to the company so far beyond the US$25 million for the monitoring system.

It is unclear what data the plates collect, where that data is stored and who can see it. The company’s own response to the cost questions has not been made public.

The committee is expected to report its findings to the full Parliament, which can recommend that the contract be reviewed or that officials be held to account. No date for that report has been announced.

Any decision on the proposed US$158 million second phase would also need government approval. Neither the committee nor the government has announced any suspension of the plate programme.

It is a project that fits Ugandan vehicles with new number plates carrying tracking devices linked to a police monitoring centre. It is run with Joint Stock Company Global Security, a Russian firm, as a public-private partnership.

They want to know whether procurement and partnership laws were followed and how the cost was set. The committee chair cited a US$134 million gap between a US$123 million feasibility estimate and a US$257 million financial model.

The former internal affairs minister said the US$25 million system worked like fleet management and tracked plates, not vehicles. He said the police were not involved in its procurement.

A check of the US Treasury’s sanctions list on 14 October 2026 found no entry for Joint Stock Company Global Security. That could change, and the list does not cover every form of US restriction.

The parliamentary committee is expected to report to the full Parliament, which can recommend a review of the contract. No date for that report has been announced.

Sources: Parliament of Uganda, Police not involved in procurement of digital number plates, 13 October 2026 ; Nile Post, 13 October 2026 ; Daily Monitor, 22 September 2026 ; US Treasury, OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list (all accessed 14 October 2026).

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