A letter written by Internal Affairs Minister Maj Gen (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire to President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni raising a red flag on Russian firm Joint Stock Company Global Security’s digital number plate project was reportedly hidden and might not have reached the fountain of honor, the fearless minister has complained.
On August 22, Otafiire told the Committee on Physical Infrastructure that he does not know how Joint Stock Company Global Security got the contract to supply and install digital number plates.
He also complained that Uganda Police Force (UPF) was being sidelined.
“This thing started in 2019, I am just a cog in the whole machine. I do not know who is doing what. What is disappointing is that the Police who would have been the principal actor was largely kept out,” said Otafiire.
“The ICT managers of Police tell me there will be complications if we try to integrate the two systems. The Police is insisting we should go for the 3rd Phase of the CCTV project, it would play the same role as to what these people are suggesting.”
The Minister also left MPs shocked when he told them that he had sent a team to investigate Joint Stock Company Global Security and its alleged station in Russia. “The team brought back a report and informed me that there were no digital number plate manufacturing companies in Russia and that such a service is only being provided in Poland,” said the retired general from Mitooma.
He went on to say that he was disappointed over a decision to raise the cost of the digital number plates from Shs150,000 to Shs714,300 and neither Police nor Ministry of Internal Affairs had a hand in the pricing.
“I am unhappy about the cost, but unfortunately, I am not the one who determines the cost. I have heard about the cost in the press. Nobody has brought it to my attention to address, so my role in that aspect is limited. Everything else is hearsay, like you see it in the press; hat is how I see it, that is the limit to our engagement.”
The Minister also revealed that he sought to register his concerns about the project, and to offer some advice to Museveni on the same but was worried that his letter to the president might have been hidden and never delivered to the fountain of honor. He says he was yet to receive an official reply to his letter.
“I wrote that the Russian company can work with the current manufacturers of number plates in Uganda and explore the possibility of putting their chips on the number plates in Uganda,” said Otafiire.
“I intimated to him that it would be a bit insensitive for us to shut down a local manufacturer in favour of importation of number plates when we can do it here. I never received reply, I doubt whether the President received that communication.”
It should be remembered that it was discovered that the Russian company which wants to manufacture expensive digital number plates for Ugandan vehicles is bankrupt and may not have the money and capacity to do the job. (See Details Here, There and Over There).
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