Museveni directs the quick adoption of digital number plates
Museveni directs the quick adoption of digital number plates
President Yoweri Museveni has directed the ministries of Works, Transport, and Security to swiftly implement the digital number plate project, despite protests from human rights groups to halt it due to privacy concerns. Museveni contends that digital number plates will be useful in the fight against crime, much like cameras.
“At this point, I’m demanding electronic license plates. I want my license plates, please. Move quickly with my license plates. These pointless license plates are not what I desire. As he presided over the graduation of 2,717 probationary police constables, special police constables, and immigration officials at Kabalye Police Training School in the Masindi district, President Museveni declared, “I want intelligent number plates for the vehicles.”
Museveni noted that the electronic number plates will significantly help in investigations of crimes especially terrorism, now that the force is using all the comprehensive means and assets needed for the job.
“You will see these terrorists who have been killing people from Congo. We are going to finish them. I have told them; we’re going to kill all of them. We have everything needed,” Museveni said.
This week, Human Rights Watch (HRW), a global organization that advocates for human rights called on Uganda to halt the rolling out of digital number plates. It argued that just like the cameras have been used to target political opponents, the digital number plates are most likely going to be used for the same purposes.
Millions of Ugandans’ right to privacy is compromised by the country’s new transport monitoring system, which amounts to unrestricted mass surveillance of all cars at all times. Instead of violating the rights of its people, the government ought to concentrate on defending them, according to HRW researcher Oryem Nyeko from Uganda.
The initial phase of the digital number plate rollout, which began at the beginning of this month, was aimed at government-owned vehicles. The government signed a 10-year agreement with the Russian business to implement digital tracking chips in all registered car number plates through the Intelligent Transport Management Systems program (ITMS) through the ministries of Works and Security.
