Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure has ordered Auditor General Edward Akol to investigate the Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS) and submit preliminary findings by Tuesday next week, amid questions over the project’s financing, ownership and implementation.
The committee, chaired by Mbarara South Division MP Mwine Mpaka, issued the directive on Thursday, October 15, 2026, after Akol appeared before legislators to explain why his office had not audited the project involving a Russian company contracted to supply and install digital number plates for vehicle identification and tracking.
The order puts the Auditor General’s office under pressure to establish the facts surrounding a project that has drawn parliamentary scrutiny over its operational arrangements and how it is being implemented.
Akol attributed the delay to inadequate documentation, telling the committee that his office received the project agreement only on Tuesday, October 13.
“We did not have adequate information to do this audit,” Akol said.
He also acknowledged that previous engagements between his office and the Office of the President had not been documented, raising questions about the information available to auditors before the committee intervened.
Akol further cited staffing constraints, saying the Office of the Auditor General has 600 employees, of whom only 450 are directly involved in field engagements with audited entities.
He told MPs that the latest communication from the Office of the President maintained that ITMS was still in its pilot phase and that no government funds had been appropriated or disbursed for its implementation, which was reportedly being financed by the investor.
However, legislators questioned why the pilot status should prevent an examination of the system’s design, installation, operations and financial arrangements, arguing that preliminary scrutiny could establish whether the project complies with the relevant requirements before full rollout.
Mpaka directed the audit team to commence work immediately and submit a written preliminary brief within the prescribed period, even if a comprehensive audit could not be completed by the deadline.
“If you are denied access, you put it in writing that our office has been denied A, B, C, D, and we capture it the way it is,” Mpaka said.
The directive requires the audit team to document any obstacles encountered, including denied access to information, rather than allow such challenges to stall the process without a formal record.
The committee also undertook to provide the Auditor General with the project’s needs assessment and the agreement signed between the government and the company to facilitate the investigation.
Dr Samuel Opio, the MP for Kole North, said the audit could begin with an assessment of user requirements, design specifications, installation and the system’s actual operations before the project moves beyond the pilot stage.
Such an approach would allow the audit team to establish whether the system meets the intended requirements and examine its implementation arrangements without necessarily waiting for a full rollout.
However, Assistant Auditor General James Bantu cautioned that the deadline was too short for a comprehensive audit, citing the project’s technical complexity and the need to obtain information from accounting officers and give them an opportunity to respond to the findings.
The committee nevertheless maintained that a preliminary assessment should proceed within the set timeframe, with any outstanding issues documented for further examination.
The appearance came a day after the committee, on Wednesday, October 14, directed officials from the Auditor General’s office to record statements with Parliament Police’s Criminal Investigations Department over the failure to audit the project.
The latest directive shifts the immediate focus to obtaining an initial account of the project’s status, financial structure and implementation, as MPs seek answers about a system intended to improve vehicle identification and tracking.
The preliminary findings are expected to inform the committee’s next steps in examining the project and determining whether further investigations or accountability measures are necessary.
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