Remarks by Winstone Katushabe*, Commissioner of Transport Regulation and Safety, Ministry of Works and Transport at a press conference marking one year of UDLS operations, held at the UDLS Main Branch, 1 April, 2022
The Board Chairperson, Uganda Security Printing Company,
Managing Director, Uganda Security Printing Company,
Project Coordinator, Uganda Driver Licensing System,
Government Officials,
Members of the Press,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I welcome you to this press event hosted by the Uganda Driver Licensing System Project under the auspices of Uganda Security Printing Company.
On 1 March 2021, we converged here at this same venue to launch the commencement of Uganda Driver Licensing System services across all the regional stations. This event was officiated by the minister of state for transport.
Today we take stock of our performance in the last one year, and reflect on the achievements and challenges that we have encountered in the course of our one year of UDLS operations.
Within the first one year of operations, a total of 244,189 driving licences were issued against a set target of 300,000.
Ladies and gentlemen, of behalf of the ministry of works and transport, I want to thank the board and management of the Uganda Security Printing Company for this milestone. If we are to measure performance, this is slightly more than 80 per cent which is a good start for the UDLS project in its first year of operations.
The ministry does not only measure performance in terms of numbers of driving licences issued but most importantly by the level of service being offered to the general public.
A service level agreement was signed between the ministry and the Uganda Security Printing Company. One of the key performance indicators of this agreement is to issue a driving licence within an hour from the time one enters the facility and have their details captured to the time of issue of the driving licence. This has been done consistently to the satisfaction of the customers.
The service has also faced some challenges and constraints. The commencement of service took place during Covid-19 pandemic with lots of restrictions on travel, working hours, sourcing of materials from abroad, observance of standard operating procedures as guided by the ministry of health, and so forth. The economy had also slowed down. The other challenge is that the service being delivered using IT systems, there are occasional system downtimes including the systems we interface with such as that of the National Identification and Registration Authority and the Uganda Revenue Authority.
Now that economy has fully opened up and on the right path to recovery, we look forward to a more improved service and better performance.
There is so much we have learnt from our mistakes and the challenges, and we expect a much better service in the coming years to come.
Ladies and gentlemen, the National Road Safety Policy and the Third National Development Plan mandate us to strengthen, and harmonise policy, legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks. The delivery of this new driving licence is one step in the right direction. The government also plans to, among others, streamline the administration of motor vehicle registration, improve the driver training and testing regime, improve road safety management and coordination, as well as enhance road safety education by 2025.
As a I conclude, I wish to commend the political leadership of the ministry and my technical team together with management of USPC for the job well done in terms of policy direction and operations.
Once again congratulations to the Uganda Driving Licensing System.
For God and My Country
Thank you.
*Mr Winstone Katushabe represented Bageya Waiswa, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works and Transport
