The Works
Ministry has said it has built enough capacity to take over the
production of...
driving permits. The Ministry is expected to take over the task from Face technology in May.
In October last year government took a decision not renew the licence of Face Technologies, which had for more than 15 years been producing and issuing driving permits on behalf of government.
driving permits. The Ministry is expected to take over the task from Face technology in May.
In October last year government took a decision not renew the licence of Face Technologies, which had for more than 15 years been producing and issuing driving permits on behalf of government.
Yesterday Mr Waiswa Bageya, the
Works permanent secretary, told Daily Monitor that there would be no
disruptions during the transition.
“We want it (take
over) to be seamless. There will be no disruption of service. We are
putting everything in place to ensure that there is no breakdown of
service,” he said, noting that the Ministry had already engaged Uganda
Security Printing Corporation, which has partnered with Veridos, a
Germany company, to produce the permits.
“We have
determined the design and materials, which they are going to supply to
make the driving permits and we shall maintain the stuff [currently
working with] Face technology,” Mr Bageya.
The
production, according to Mr Bageya, will move from its current premises
in Kyambogo, Kampala to a new location near Uganda Railways Corporation.
He
also noted there were negotiations to see if government buys the
software that is currently being used by Face Technology. “The software
is still the property of the owner [Face Technology] but the committee
[is] negotiating to see whether it can procure our own through the
Ministry of ICT,” he said, noting the matter was still pending.
We where unable to get an update in regard to software
acquisition given that email inquiries to the ICT Ministry remained
unanswered by press time.
Mr Bageya also noted that
they would wait for the Ministry of ICT to understand how much
government needs to procure the software.
Background
Last
year in October government has, in principle, agreed to grant Face
Technologies a transitional period to hand over the production of
computerised driving permits to the Ministry of Works.
The decision was reached at meeting, which was chaired by the Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, following weeks of heated exchanges between the ministries of Works, which supported the transitional period, and Finance, which opposed it.
The decision was reached at meeting, which was chaired by the Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, following weeks of heated exchanges between the ministries of Works, which supported the transitional period, and Finance, which opposed it.
The meeting was attended by ministries of
Works and Transport, Finance, Planning and Economic Development,
Attorney General and Office of the President and the Face Technologies.
Dr Rugunda shared government’s wish to end the contract but sought a smooth transition with minimum disruptions.
The
then Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana, who led the government
legal team, reportedly said the matters under consideration were not
necessarily legal but managerial and up to the Works Ministry.
The
meeting resolved not to renew Face Technologies’ contract when it
expires in May but agreed to give the firm a transitional contract to
manage the handover of equipment, data and software to government.
Face Technologies owns the software and intellectual property of the project, which government intends to buy.
dnakaweesi@ug.nationmedia.com
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