Justice Oscar John Kihika of the Court of Appeal has dismissed an application that was filed by Isaac Ssemakadde, Chief Executive of Legal Brains Trust (LBT), seeking to block the implementation of a new compulsory digital car tracking policy.
According to Justice Kihika, the LBT had raised important legal issues, however found that the injury to be suffered was limited to the cost of plates.
“LBT raised important legal issues, but limited the cost of new number plates, which would be reimbursable if the case was eventually won by activists,” Justice Kihika said.
In July, the government of Uganda picked a Russian company called Joint Stock Company Global Security and executed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding to implement the novel intelligent Transport Monitoring system (ITMS) by inserting a digital tracking device on the number plate of every motor vehicle, motorcycle, and water vessel in Uganda.
However, LBT petitioned the court in 2021 to block its implementation, arguing that indiscriminate ‘big brother’ surveillance through this new technology would blatantly violate the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens to their privacy and that the collection of this data could easily be abused under the current ITMS format.
“We have been litigating this matter since 2021 in the civil division of the high court, but they have been sluggish; they don’t care about the constitutional ideals anymore. It’s a pity that we have been forced into this pernicious race against the July 1, 2023 deadline, but we are determined to take on this battle,” said Ssemakadde.
Effective July 1, 2023, ITMS will allow the government to track all Ugandan registered motor vehicles at all times and increase the cost of new plates from Shs 135, 000/= to Shs 735, 000/=.
