Two government officials have been arrested by Parliament’s CID as investigations continue into how the cost of Uganda’s digital number plates was determined.
The officials have been identified as Moses Bekabye, a technical adviser at the Ministry of Finance, and Nathan Negesa, a public officer attached to the Office of the President.
The two were handed over to Parliament’s CID for further questioning.
Bekabye was arrested on allegations of perjury after he allegedly gave false testimony to MPs investigating the controversial digital number plate project.
While appearing before the committee last week, Bekabye told Parliament under oath that government officials had travelled to China, Russia and India to benchmark the prices of digital number plates before the government settled on the cost being charged to motorists.
However, questions surrounding the alleged benchmarking trips prompted the committee to order his arrest for further questioning.
Negesa was also arrested after failing to provide a clear breakdown of the Shs714,300 charged for a digital number plate.
A subsequent cost breakdown presented to the committee reportedly totalled Shs624,000, leaving a difference of Shs90,300 that officials could not immediately account for.
The arrests were made during a session of Parliament’s Infrastructure Committee chaired by Mwine Mpaka, as Parliament intensifies its probe into the pricing of digital number plates under Uganda’s Intelligent Transport Monitoring System.
The committee is investigating how the Shs714,300 price was arrived at amid concerns over the cost of the plates, implementation delays and the involvement of the Russia-based contractor.
The probe is ongoing, with officials expected to provide further explanations on the pricing structure and other aspects of the project.
