KAMPALA, Uganda – A Ugandan parliamentary minority report has exposed significant irregularities in the contract awarding the nation’s controversial traffic monitoring system to a Russian firm, warning the scheme was designed to exploit motorists under false revenue projections.
A group of nine legislators issued a dissenting report, disowning the majority committee report that approved the implementation of the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS). The minority group revealed that the 10-year deal, signed on July 23, 2021, with Joint Stock Company Global Security, was marred by legal breaches, financial deception and procurement irregularities.
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The minority report, led by Rukiga County MP Roland Ndyomugenyi, demanded immediate termination of the agreement, describing it as a scandal poised to exploit Ugandans through exaggerated traffic fines. Despite the concerns, Parliament approved the Statutory Instrument on the express penalty scheme (EPS) for road traffic offenders on July 19, 2024. The scheme, implemented as part of the widely unpopular camera-based traffic enforcement, has since sparked public outrage.
“There was no due diligence done. The government failed to investigate the technical and financial ability of the company. We are dealing with a briefcase firm,” Ndyomugenyi told Parliament.
The report, tabled in response to a motion by Tororo Woman MP Sarah Opendi, scrutinized the performance and legal standing of Global Security. Dissenting members of Parliament — drawn from the National Unity Platform (NUP), Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), and even the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) — highlighted that the company was insolvent in its home country and had never executed a project of similar scale. Between 2019 and 2021, the firm faced at least eight bankruptcy-related lawsuits in Russia, including claims by creditors amounting to hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars.
“How can we entrust such a company with a multi-million dollar public infrastructure project?” the MPs queried.
Flawed Financial Model Questioned
The minority report also criticizes the financial model underpinning the ITMS project, branding it as a tool to extract nearly a billion dollars from Ugandans, primarily through traffic fines. According to the contract, the project anticipates revenue of $996 million (3.8 trillion Ugandan shillings), of which over $510 million (1.9 trillion Ugandan shillings) is expected from traffic penalties — particularly speed violations, stop line infractions and red light offenses.
However, the MPs argue the entire model is based on unrealistic assumptions.
“Most roads in Uganda are not marked, lack traffic lights, and do not support this kind of enforcement,” the report reads. “The idea that motorists will always commit offences to sustain the revenue stream is absurd and exploitative.”
They further noted that the fallback plan for revenue shortfalls, should fines not meet expectations, is nonexistent. This leaves Ugandans exposed to punitive enforcement simply to fulfill a dubious private contract.
The scheme’s implementation has drawn public uproar, with some motorists reporting fines of as much as 2 million shillings (about $530) over a single day of driving. Motorists also face dilemmas at intersections where automated systems conflict with manual traffic officer directives.
“I received a ticket in a funny way,” one motorist said. “The lights were red but the traffic officer was calling the cars in that same direction. Few hours later, I received a ticket on my mail. How do I get justice? In fact the traffic officer was telling us to drive quickly.”
Motorists face a fine for ignoring a traffic officer’s instructions, creating a difficult situation when instructions conflict with automated signals.
Procurement Irregularities and Oversight Concerns
The Russian company was single-sourced, bypassing the competitive bidding required under Uganda’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) Act and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Act. Although Security Minister Jim Muhwezi claimed other bidders existed, the committee found no evidence of a competitive process.
In another legal breach, Joint Stock Company Global Security failed to register as a foreign company in Uganda until March 21, 2023 — nearly two years after the contract was signed. The report describes this late registration as “an afterthought” and a violation of the Companies Act, 2012, which requires foreign firms to register within 30 days of establishing business in Uganda.
Joint Stock Company Global Security is privately owned by four individuals with no apparent links to any Russian state institutions: Ivan Shkarban, Alexey Kagarlytsky, Maxim Muravyev and Oleg Pichugin. Despite the sensitive nature of national security and surveillance infrastructure, the firm’s private status raises concerns about government oversight and accountability.
The MPs caution that continuing to implement the EPS under such a flawed framework will only worsen public anger and place the state in legal jeopardy. The minority recommended Parliament immediately halt the ITMS rollout, terminate the contract and initiate fresh procurement involving competent, vetted firms. It also urged a full value-for-money audit and an investigation into how the project was approved without stakeholder consultation.
“This arrangement is a scam to waste and misuse public resources. Government must save Ugandans the additional burden of being cheated in broad daylight,” the report concludes.
As protests continue against the EPS fines, this minority report reinforces public concerns that the system is questionable as a tool for road safety, suggesting a focus on monetizing enforcement to benefit a foreign, financially troubled firm.
