Activists lose bid to block digital number plates
By Juliet Kigongo
The Court of Appeal has dismissed with costs the application in which activists were seeking to block the implementation of digital number plates for motor vehicles. Justice Oscar John Kihika of the Court of Appeal ruled that the application did not have merit because and would affect the government project.
The activists under their Legal Brains Trust (LBT) Limited had asked the Appeal Court to issue a temporary injunction restraining the Attorney General (AG) from implementing the intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS) or any programme of compulsory digital surveillance of all motor vehicles in Uganda.
The judge ruled that he was unable to find that the LBT will suffer irreparable damage because the activists failed to demonstrate the injury, they are likely to suffer if the digital system is implemented.
In February, High Court’s Justice Boniface Wamala dismissed the same case reasoning that activists had failed to bring sufficient evidence to demonstrate the need to stop the government from installing car tracking devices in people’s cars.
He noted that the Attorney General who is the respondent in the case ably justified that the reason for introducing the surveillance devices is for safeguarding national security and curbing crime which is a central responsibility of government.
Parliament has since approved the mandatory use of digital trackers on vehicles and motorcycles in the country and will see data of all driving permit holders from Face Technologies integrated with the ones of police and Uganda Revenue Authority to help track defaulters.
