Otafiire appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Physical InfrastructureMinister of Water and Environment Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire has questioned the effectiveness of Uganda’s digital number plate system, saying the technology did not perform as promised when he was still in office.Otafiire made the remarks while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure chaired by Mbarara South MP Mwine Mpaka, which is investigating effectiveness of digital number plates and their impact on the transport sector.Otafiire informed MPs that before implementation of the project he raised concerns, particularly over compatibility of the technology with existing traffic surveillance cameras.He told MPs that despite police being the user department, it was never involved in negotiations and was only supposed to be given equipment to start implementing.Otafiire also informed legislators that consultations on the system’s ability to deliver were also questioned after they learnt that similar efforts in Kenya had failed.He said after finding out the contract had been signed, they found they had to implement the system but after it was installed, police discovered it functioned more like a fleet management system than the sophisticated intelligent transport monitoring system that had been presented to government.Otafiire also questioned the system’s ability to track vehicles whose digital number plates had been removed and recounted an experiment in which number plates were removed from a vehicle and taken to his office. When the team asked system operators to identify the vehicle’s location, they were reportedly told it was in Kololo, despite the plates being in his office.His revelations prompted MPs to question whether security agencies were satisfied with the system, to which Commissioner for Transport Regulation and Safety Winston Katushabe noted that it could only be answered by security personnel.MPs also questioned former ministers on who owns the software for implementation of the system, to which they received varying answers.Bukanga North MP Nathan Byanyima commended Otafiire for his honesty on the matter.The post Otafiire Questions Digital Number Plate System, Says It Works Like Fleet Management, Not Security Tool appeared first on Business Focus.