KAMPALA — President Yoweri Museveni is expected to address the nation on security matters tonight, Saturday at 8pm.
Museveni’s televised address was announced by his Senior Presidential Press Secretary Lindah Nabusayi on Thursday morning.
“[President] Museveni will address the nation to give a Security Situation brief to the country on
Saturday August 14, 2021 at 8pm,” Nabusayi wrote on Twitter.
The President is expected to talk about the controversy surrounding spy chips after reports indicated that he personally handpicked a Eurasian firm named Global Systems LLC to install tracking devices in all public and private vehicles, motorcycles and water vessels in the country.
With the deal, the government intends to re-register both public and private vehicles, water vessels such as boats, and boda-bodas. This is a process that will involve the installation of digital trackers to enable authorized state officials to track the movement of everyone using these modes of transport.
Once the system is up and running, the government says users will not be able, for example, to remove a registration plate from a vehicle without alerting the authorities.
Sketchy details about the deal indicate that car owners in the country will have to directly foot the bill of implementation, including the UGX20,000 ($5) tracker installation fee, cost of a new registration number plate, and subsequent penalties. Any revenue generated by the process will be shared between the government and Joint Stock, as per the agreement.
Expanding the state surveillance capacity to boda-bodas will cover much of the population given their reach and relevance to Uganda’s economy.
It will also grant the state access to data on movement of millions of people they transport every day. Already, efforts are underway to challenge the Joint Stock deal in and outside court over privacy and constitutionality concerns.
