Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure has directed three officials from the Office of the Auditor General to record statements with police and remain in custody pending the appearance of Auditor General Edward Akol to explain delays in auditing Uganda’s controversial Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS).
The officials, Anthony Kimuli, Martin Bamulumbye and Emmanuel Ebuchu, appeared before the committee on Wednesday to update legislators on the audit of the digital number plates project. However, their explanations failed to satisfy the lawmakers, who demanded that Akol personally account for the delay.
The committee, chaired by Mwine Mpaka, also issued summons to Ministry of Finance officials who failed to attend the proceedings for the fourth time, as Parliament stepped up scrutiny of the project’s procurement, financing and implementation.
The inquiry has raised questions about the length of time the project has operated without a completed audit, particularly because motorists are required to pay for the installation of digital number plates.
The legislators want the Auditor General to establish how much the project’s contractor, Russian firm Joint Stock Company Global Security, has invested in the system and how the investment will be recovered through fees and fines.
Presenting a statement signed by Akol, Bamulumbye told the committee that the audit had been scheduled for the 2025 audit year but was delayed by difficulties in obtaining the necessary documents from the responsible government institutions.
He said the Auditor General’s office wrote to the Ministry of Works and Transport on June 19, 2025, requesting preliminary information and a date for a meeting to commence the audit.
The ministry responded on July 10, 2025, explaining that digital number plates were part of the wider ITMS project, which was being implemented and supervised by a multi-sectoral project management team under the Office of the President.
According to the statement, the Auditor General subsequently contacted the Office of the President and was informed that the project was security-related, was still in the pilot phase and had, up to that point, been financed entirely by Global Security.
The Auditor General’s office said it intended to continue engaging the presidency to facilitate the audit. However, the explanation triggered criticism from MPs, who questioned why the project had operated for years without a comprehensive examination of its financial and contractual arrangements.
The legislators cited Section 29 of the Public-Private Partnerships Act, which provides for the auditing of public-private partnership projects from inception to completion. They also pointed to provisions in the project agreement requiring quarterly progressive audits to establish the contractor’s investment and determine the amounts recoverable through charges and penalties.
The officials told the committee that the audit remained incomplete because they were still collecting information and had only recently obtained the project agreement.
They said the exercise had been prioritised for the January 2027 audit cycle, after the office completes its ongoing financial audit assignments.
The explanation drew further objections from lawmakers, who questioned why it had taken more than a year to follow up on information requested from government agencies and why the audit could not have been expedited given the financial implications of the project.
MPs also challenged the argument that the system’s security classification justified the delays, insisting that security considerations should not automatically exempt a public-private partnership from financial scrutiny.
The committee noted that motorists are required to pay approximately Shs714,300 for a new digital number plate, while the contractor is expected to recover its investment through fees and fines generated by the system.
The lawmakers want the audit to establish the contractor’s actual expenditure, assess the project’s value for money and clarify the financial obligations government and motorists could face throughout the contract period.
They also questioned why a value-for-money audit had not been completed despite an earlier parliamentary resolution calling for one.
The Auditor General’s representatives maintained that the office had not abandoned the exercise and was still pursuing the documentation needed to conduct the audit.
However, the committee insisted that Akol appear in person to explain the circumstances surrounding the delays. It subsequently directed the three officials to record statements with Criminal Investigations Directorate officers attached to Parliament.
The committee also questioned officials from the Ministry of Works and Transport about the ministry’s internal oversight of the project.
Betty Nannyondo, the ministry’s Assistant Commissioner for Internal Audit, told MPs that the contract, valued at Shs158 billion, had only recently been concluded and was included in the current financial year’s procurement audit plan.
She confirmed that the audit had not yet been conducted.
The latest action follows earlier arrests in connection with the parliamentary investigation. On October 5, Parliament’s Criminal Investigations Directorate arrested Nathan Negesa, an official from the Office of the President, and Moses Bekabye from the Ministry of Finance after lawmakers questioned their explanations regarding the Shs714,300 charge for digital number plates and alleged benchmarking trips undertaken to determine their cost.
The committee’s investigation continues amid concerns over the project’s cost, procurement process, contractual terms, the contractor’s investment and the system’s overall performance.
The outcome of the inquiry could clarify whether the project’s financial arrangements offer value for money and whether the charges imposed on motorists are justified by the actual cost of implementing the system.
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