The issuing of digital license plates is expected to bring in 12 billion shillings per month for the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi made the prediction while testifying before the physical infrastructure committee of Parliament.
Musinguzi arrived at the shillings 12 billion figure by calculating the average number of motorbikes and automobiles that are imported.
“Uganda gets 14,197 motorcycles and 3,806 motor vehicles per month, and when you multiply each by shillings 714,300 as the new digital number plate charge, you get shillings 10 billion and two billion, respectively, which comes to shillings 12 billion,” Musinguzi said to the committee.
The taking of the money
Dan Kimosho, the committee’s chair and a member of parliament for Kazo County, was more interested in learning where the money would be used after it was gathered.
Musinguzi replied that all funds are deposited in the unified fund.
Musinguzi assured the committee that the money would be transferred directly to the Russian company Joint Stock Global Security, from which 15% would go to the government and the remaining 80% would be kept by the company. “Once money is collected it will be placed in the consolidated fund then removed later on to other areas,” Musinguzi said.
Musinguzi said that URA had not implemented digital license plates and that he was unaware of the revenue sharing deal with the Russian company that gives it the greatest share, with an 85% and 15% split.
According to Musinguzi, “this system is intended to address security concerns.”
He concurred that the price of the number plate (shillings 714,300) is expensive, that many car owners might not be able to afford it, and that doing so might force bodaboda riders out of business.
