The government has recently announced that it will re-register all number plates for every public and private vehicle, water vessel also including Boda Bodas for purposes of security. The number plates will be integrated with car trackers, this means the govt will always know where you are driving all the time. The govt has signed a 10-year agreement with a Russian firm known as M/S Joint-stock global systems under the project dubbed intelligent transport monitoring system.
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Every automobile in Uganda will be re-registered and it will help MDAs, ministries benefit from this project. The project that is starting this month will require the global systems to establish centers across the country working closely with Luwero Industries and the public will be informed when each vehicle will be called to buy new number plates.
The Deal
The number plates tracking technology move will enable the Ugandan government to use Artificial Intelligent (AI) to back up other measures in place to be able to the country with security. Global systems company will take 70% of monies from penalties in the first two years with the govt pocketing 30%. In the fourth year, the two parties will share the revenue of 50-50 basis, and the government will take 70% from the sixth year onwards. Proponents of the project say the investor will incur the initial investment cost and recoup its spend through the UGX 20,000 tracker installation fee (minus cost of new number plate) as well as penalties all at the expense of the vehicle or motorcycle owner.
Ugandans have come out to ask how this whole system will work. Let’s break it down.
The vehicles will have a monitoring system with a digital system in the number plate, so there will be communication between the monitor in the car and the tracking center. This means you cannot transfer a number plate from one car to another since it will have real-time connectivity with the network operations center (supported by NITA_U) and thus it will communicate that there is tampering with the vehicle.
GPS number plate system
The car number plate trackers will use Global Positioning Technology (GPS) which is used by many other devices including your smartphone to track car owners.
The Number Plate GPS Tracker was designed to be covertly fitted into places, either behind the number plates on vehicles or into areas on a vehicle that conventional trackers cannot be used. The Number Plate GPS Tracker is very robust and thin and harsh handling is not a problem. To retain its small size, manufacturers shrink and wrap it to ensure that it can still be charged via the Type C charging port using your car battery as a power source.
These trackers come in different modes, including; Eco Mode, Log mode, Flight Mode, Park Mode, Pursuit Mode, and normal tracking mode. The government needs to agree with the supplier which mode it will be in by default before they install them onto the vehicles. Let’s explore four plausible modes.
Eco Mode: This mode will switch off the tracker completely for a selected period, for example, ECO 4 hours, the board will wake every 4 hours and report a GPS location. Placing the device into normal tracking mode can be done via the control center or an app. Eco hugely improves battery life. The battery can last for many weeks using this mode. Eco-mode can be usually selected from 1-24 hours.
Log Mode: This mode will log all the movements of the tracker. The tracker will not switch on its GSM module as this required a registered SIM card, it will only turn on its GPS module. Example log mode 10 hours. If the tracker moves during this period, it will log and store all movements, it will then send all movements to the server every ten hours.
Normal Tracking Mode: This is the most common mode that is used. The tracker will simply sleep when not moving, it will keep the GSM module on, but turn off the GPS module, this also saves power. Once the tracker moves, it will turn on the GPS and track live every x second or minute.
Pursuit Mode: The above two options require a SIM card so many not be the best option. This mode will be able to operate 24/7 updating its location regardless of motion state. This mode allows up to 1-second live tracking but will have a serious effect on battery life due to continuous transmitting back to the security tracking center. However, this mode is ideal when live tracking an asset. Again, this can be activated via the APP and the panel.
Survilance & Privacy concerns
This means that if you are planning to own a vehicle in the nearby future you have to buy the vehicle, acquire a driving permit, motor 3rd party insurance, and now of these new number plates with a digital tracker to tell the government where you are at any particular time.
But why is the government interested in knowing where you are? This looks like an invasion of citizen privacy by gathering location information that might be used to its advantage especially those with dissenting views popularly known as opposition.
However, the government has come out to explicitly clarify that the purpose of this intelligent monitoring system is only for security. Security Minister Jim Muhwezi accused the press at the launch of the project last week, that this system is not going to be used to monitor private matters of motor vehicle users. With this system, once there is a security situation, the control center will use the location information from the trackers and the installed cameras to be able to tell which vehicles or moto bikes were in that place and their respective owners.
This is very difficult to believe that with all this data in the government’s hands, they will resist the temptation of invasion of privacy. But is the invasion of privacy such a big deal and should it be a bigger concern than security? Privacy is a fundamental right as per the 1995 constitution, as it is vital to the protection of human dignity and is a basis of any democratic society.
The 1996 constitution explicitly provides the right to privacy and calls for its protection. Article 27 provides that “No person shall be subject to unlawful search of the person, home or other property of that person or unlawful entry by others of the premises of the person, and that no person shall be subject to interference with the privacy of that person’s home correspondence, communication or other property.” So whether this number plate tracking move is constitutional is another matter altogether.
This vehicle number plate tracking technology has given the govt more power over surveillance over Boda Bodas and passengers as it thinks it will help curb the rampant transport kidnappings and robberies to aid during investigations. The downside here is that if the GPS tracking system ends up in the wrong hands it could just aid the wrongdoers instead. Ugandans need to have some assurance that this data will not be used wrongly.
Section 10 of the data collection and privacy act of 2019 states that “A data collector, data processor or data controller shall not collect, hold or process personal data in a manner which infringes on the privacy of the subject.” But this new technology provides the Ugandan government with a powerful and easy means to follow individuals as they travel anywhere. It will make it very easy for them to monitor anyone remotely, logged this data can be accessed by any curious police officer without any judicial oversight. The security minister clarified that Ugandans are free to go to court in accordance with the constitution in case they feel any of their rights has been infringed upon.
