Members of Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure, led by Committee Chairperson Hon. Mwine Mpaka, visited the Police Command Centre at Naguru to see first-hand how the Digital Number Plate System operates, days after legislators questioned whether its security and vehicle-tracking functions were delivering the intended results.
The visit marked the latest stage of the Committee’s scrutiny of the Digital Number Plate Project. On September 28, Mpaka said Parliament needed to establish whether the security component of the system was working, following concerns raised by stakeholders appearing before the Committee.
Two days later, Police and government officials appeared before the Committee to provide operational evidence on the system’s performance. Police Director of ICT, AIGP Felix Baryamwisaki, reported that 337 out of 375 stolen motor vehicles had been successfully tracked and recovered, representing a 90 per cent recovery rate.
But Mpaka and the Committee wanted to go beyond figures presented during the hearings. The Committee subsequently resolved to visit the monitoring centre for a practical demonstration of how vehicles are identified, how information is processed and how the technology supports Police operations. Mpaka indicated that MPs wanted to test the system using their own number plates rather than relying solely on a prepared demonstration.
“Yes, indeed, we have established that cars and motorbikes can be tracked. The issue of digital number plates is clearly important. We just need to see how we can improve the system,” Mpaka said.
Today, at the Police headquarters in Naguru, the Police team led by Inspector General of Police Abasi Byakagaba took MPs through the system and its operational environment and showed how digital registration plates can support Police in identifying, tracking and recovering vehicles.
“As far as I am concerned, the system is working, and it is giving us solutions in our investigation,” Byakagaba noted.
The Committee, which had intended to take the Police by surprise, came with car number plates of their own that they wanted tracked and asked for a practical demonstration.
They were also presented with live location coordinates of the cars, something that impressed the MPs, demonstrating the role of the Digital Number Plate System beyond vehicle registration and plate issuance.
The demonstration came against the background of concerns raised during the September 28 hearings over delays in the issuance of number plates, production capacity, costs and communication with motorists. The Committee has been examining these issues alongside the security capabilities of the system.
Committee members also sought clarification on how information generated by the system is managed and stored. Samuel Okiding, Deputy CDF and the representative of the UPDF in parliament, was convinced beyond doubt that indeed the data is stored in Uganda.
For the Committee, the Naguru inspection provided an opportunity to verify the Digital Number Plate Project beyond the competing arguments presented during the hearings and observe its security component in an operational Police environment.
“One thing for sure is, the whole country needs the digital number plate system. As a committee, we are looking at the cost and the contractor’s capacity. Other than that, no one is against the project,” Mpaka noted.
The visit to the Police Command Centre followed the Committee’s inspection of the digital number plate production facility, allowing Parliament to examine both the production and security components of the project first-hand.
During the production inspection, Committee members were shown the full number plate manufacturing process, existing stocks of production materials and ongoing plate production and installation operations. It currently operates at a production capacity of 2,500 number plate kits per day (50,000 per month), providing sufficient capacity to support current registration and fitment requirements.
Number plate production is carried out by a workforce of more than 300 Ugandan employees, while the project supports over 900 additional jobs in related industries. The level of localisation has already reached 80 per cent, making the facility the first full-cycle number plate production in East Africa.
The inspection also allowed Parliament an opportunity to assess concerns previously raised about production capacity and the availability of number plates. MPs were able to observe the production lines, available stocks and ongoing operations directly rather than relying solely on figures presented during the Committee hearings.
Taken together with the security results presented by Police, the figures provide a broader picture of a project that experienced significant implementation challenges but has since recorded measurable improvements in both service delivery and security performance.
The operational evidence presented to Parliament points to a system that is functioning and producing measurable results: the plate backlog has been cleared, registration and fitment times have fallen sharply, and Police are using Digital Number Plate technology to trace and recover stolen vehicles.
At the same time, inspections highlighted areas where implementation can be further strengthened. The focus is therefore increasingly shifting towards strengthening cooperation among participating institutions, improving Police operational and administrative procedures and ensuring clearer communication with motorists and other stakeholders.
