President Museveni has said digital number plates were introduced as an anti-crime measure, and not for issuing traffic fines.
“I saw some issues about the digital number plates, that people are being fined. I don’t know for what, but the issue about the number plates is not about fines. It’s anti-crime,” he said.
The president was speaking during the reading of the national budget on Thursday at Kololo Independence Grounds.
Following the rollout of the automatic express penalty scheme using CCTV cameras that has faced a backlash from motorists, many have concluded that they had been hoodwinked about the rationale of introducing digital number plates.
Speaking on Thursday, the president insisted that digital number plates are meant for curbing crime and not for issuing fines to motorists.
Citing the recent murder of Godfrey Wayengera , 45, a resident of Namumira village in Mukono town, who was killed on June 10, 2025, the president said such crimes will be curbed by both CCTV cameras and digital number plates.
“I can’t accept our Ugandans dying because of incomplete infrastructure. Remember when I addressed you in Parliament in 2019, I told you about the cameras you were there with your policemen asking, “Ani eyamulabye?”
He explained that the digital number plates are central to crime-fighting, not revenue collection.
“Let’s go technical. Let’s have smart means. They have helped us solve a number of things. These are digitized number plates with a central command not collecting fines and so on,” he said.
“I think the confusion about fines could be because we didn’t have money and we told these people to put number plates and recover money. The issue is about the number plate being diagnosed. Every
vehicle must have a digital number plate traced by a central command to know which cars, which boda was in the area. The issue is not about money. No. It’s about security. They are acting with impunity. This is not about fines. It’s about security.”
Following the assassination of high profile figures in the country including AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi, Joan Kagezi, Col. Ibrahim Abiriga, Muhammad Kirumira and Maj. Muhammad Kiggundu, President Museveni in 2018 laid out a 10-point strategy that would help deal with this rising spate of violent crimes in the country.
"We shall require every motorist and motorcyclist to have electronic number plates with an electronic signal in them to be incurred at the cost of every owner. This will enable us to know which vehicle or pikipiki (motorcycle) was in a particular area when a crime was committed, "Museveni said during the State of the Nation address in 2018.
"We need new helmets with illuminated numbers at the front and at the back. These helmets will be registered and put in the central processing systems of Police."
According to the project, every vehicle and motorcycle will be required to get a digital number plate that is fitted with a chip that in case of any crime, it is easy for security to go the system to check which vehicle or piki piki (motorcycle) was in a particular area when a crime was committed, "Museveni said during the State of the Nation address in 2018.
"We need new helmets with illuminated numbers at the front and at the back. These helmets will be registered and put in the central processing systems of Police."
According to the project, every vehicle and motorcycle will be required to get a digital number plate that is fitted with a chip that in case of any crime, it is easy for security to go the system to trace the vehicle at that particular point during the commission of the crime.
The president said this would be easy to implement with the installation of CCTV cameras by checking footage.