Last Updated on: 1st July 2023, 12:57 pm
Kampala, July 1, 2023: On May 25, 2023, a group of young people under their umbrella ‘Ukraine Solidarity Committees, Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa’ came out and released a statement.
Their statement was condemning the Uganda government’s decision to award a ten-year contract to a Russian company to issue digital car plates at a high cost.
They called for it to be halted until the points they cited in their statement were looked into and catered for. Read their statement here.
In 2021, Uganda chose a Russian company – Joint Stock Company Global Security to supply digital car number plates inserted with surveillance chips for security purposes. As per the plan, the Russian company was to start on July 1, 2023.
However, the government has come out to say the production of car plates will not commence as had early been planned.
According to State Minister for Works, Fred Byamukama, the contractor has failed to make a timely delivery of consignment for the new program.
Under the new plan, each of the car owners would be mandated to pay shs735, 000 for the digital plate – an amount many Ugandan car owners and activists say are too much.
“We’re great full for the suspension of the contract, we now call upon a valid and legitimate company to come over and take the contract,” Makanga Alex, president of Ukraine Solidarity Committees for Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa told this publication.
He added: “We also call upon the government to follow laws while awarding contracts to people and companies both local and foreign.”