Businessman Ben Misagga has questioned why Uganda would spend a reported $30 million (about Shs110 billion) importing tracking software when, in his view, Makerere University’s computing graduates could build it at home.
In an opinion article published on October 8, Misagga said he was angry to hear of the planned purchase, pointing to Makerere’s decades of IT training and the PhD holders at its College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS).
“So Makerere, what is wrong with ourselves?” he wrote.
Misagga argued that tracking technology is not complex, describing it as little more than a chip, some code and a map. He claimed that a third-year computing student in India could write such software in their hostel room within two weeks, and recalled Makerere’s reputation in the 1970s as Africa’s answer to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Misagga did not say which government agency is behind the purchase or name the supplier. He introduced the $30 million figure as something he had heard, and CampusBee has not been able to confirm it independently.
Keep the money at home, he says
Misagga said the money should instead go to Ugandan institutions. He suggested the state-owned National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) manufacture the hardware, the Wazalendo SACCO finance the project, and Uganda Police test it, possibly through its own tracking command centre in Naguru.
He argued that NEC and similar government firms are being kept small by competing for minor tenders such as classroom construction, while large technology contracts go to foreign companies. He also urged former Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Monica Musenero to take up the project and named engineer Dr Kiwanuka as someone he believes could build a homegrown system.
To make his case, Misagga cited countries that built their own technology industries, including South Africa’s vehicle tracking firms such as Tracker, Cartrack and MiX Telematics, and Estonia, home to ride-hailing company Bolt. He also referred to Zipline’s blood-delivery drones in Rwanda, although Zipline is a US-based company that runs its service in partnership with the Rwandan government.
The bigger picture
Vehicle tracking has been a sensitive issue in Uganda for years. In 2021, the government signed a 10-year contract with Russian firm Joint Stock Company Global Security to install digital trackers in vehicles and motorcycles, a project first proposed by President Museveni as part of security measures announced in 2018. It is not clear whether the purchase Misagga describes is linked to that project.
CampusBee has contacted Makerere’s College of Computing and Information Sciences and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation for comment.
Could Makerere students build Uganda’s tracking system? Tell us. @campusbee.ug
