Automated Express Penalty Scheme gets one month suspension

KAMPALA - The works and transport ministry has suspended the automated Express Penalty Scheme (EPS) for one month.

A statement released by works minister Gen. Katumba Wamala on Thursday, June 12, 2025, says the suspension had been occasioned by the high number of complaints and concerns from general public in the implementation of the regulations.

“The Ministry of Works and Transport and the Uganda Police Force have been implementing the Traffic and Road Safety (Prescription of Speed Limits Regulations), 2025 through the EPS Auto module under the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS),” the statement reads.

Katumba says the ministry, “has registered a number of complaints and concerns from general public in the implementation of the regulations. On Wednesday, the Ministry held an engagement with public transporters including the Federation of Uganda Taxi Operators (UTOF), representatives of truck drivers and the Airport Taxi Drivers Association.”

The minister highlighted several key concerns, which had also been echoed by the general public were raised in the in the meeting, including that a number of errors could have been made in synchronising the system with EPS data from the Police leading to duplicated fines and interchanging offences; need for further sensitisation and engagement with road users and stakeholders to appreciate the regulations and the “automation of the Express Penalty Scheme.

Other concerns were: The fines for speeding were too harsh and the 72 hours allocated for paying the fines was too short for people to effect the payment; The scope of implementation of the 30km/h speed limit within the urban areas was too broad and needed to be restricted to only special zones specified in the regulations, i.e schools, markets, hospitals and churches; the lack of speed signs on some roads to guide users on the expected speed limits; and need to align the speed cameras with the speed signs on the roads. The section from Nkumba to Katabi on Entebbe Rd was highlighted.

“Firstly, I want to thank the general public for remaining calm. I also appreciate the civil approach by the public transporters including taxi operators, truck drivers, airport taxi drivers and others in seeking dialogue with the ministry to address their grievances instead of strikes and inciting violence. This is the right way to resolve differences,” Katumba adds.

He noted that “in consideration of the gaps and public concerns mentioned above, the Ministry has found it necessary to immediately suspend the implementation of the automated express penalty scheme (EPS Auto) by one month from June 12 2025 to 12th July 12, 2025 to enable the implementing agencies to address all the gaps in the regulation and the EPS Auto.”

Gen. Katumba said the Ministry of Works and Transport will lead the Government team and other Stakeholders to address the concerns of the public.

“In this time, Government will verify any concerns regarding fines that were issued on the system, review the regulation and sensitise the public on the regulations and the EPS Auto. The ministry will also continue to engage stakeholders to address their concerns with the system. In the meantime, I urge all road users to continue driving responsibly and observing traffic rules to ensure safety on our roads,” he stated.

On Wednesday evening, the ministry announced they had suspended the implementation of the EPS following public uproar about its applicability.

This followed car dealers' outcry. Isaac Balinda, a Kampala city-based businessman dealing in car sales on credit, said they were facing an unexpected financial nightmare.

In just five days, he had been slapped with 378 automated express penalty tickets totalling shillings 114 millioon, all linked to vehicles sold to clients on instalment terms.

Balinda is among the over 1,000 car dealers under the Association of Motor Dealers (AMOD) which demanded that the Government suspend and review the newly implemented Financial Issuance System (FIS).

The system they say was crippling their business and punishing them for traffic offences committed by buyers who still drive cars registered in the dealer's names.

The internal affairs ministry has also since distanced itself from the implementation of FIS as minister Kahinda Otafiire under whose docket the Police falls, on Wednesday denied any involvement in the deployment of the system.

“Those things, ask the Ministry of Works and transport. We (the Police under internal affairs) are not involved, not even in the first place,” Otafiire said.