KAMPALA- The Works and Transport Minister, Gen Edward Katumba Wamala has announced that mandatory vehicle inspection will officially start in July and confirmed that preparations are underway to beat the deadline.
“We will start with passenger service vehicles and goods vehicles including trucks and its mandatory,” Gen Katumba Wamala said.
This comes after cabinet directed that government handles the mandatory vehicle inspection which has been in the offing for many years but the move to have it done by a private company was stopped by Parliament.
The Ministry of Works and Transport assumed control of vehicle inspection services early this year previously managed by SGS Uganda Ltd with facilities at Nabbingo, Namanve, Kawanda and Namulanda being taken over by the government under the Ministry of Works and Transport.
Minister Katumba Wamala told journalists today February 28th 2025 that presently they are training the Police and Ministry staff on what to do as preparations for inspection work to start in July.
He said that before the inspection is carried out, the Ministry will educate the public, train personnel and test the equipment and officially roll out the mandatory vehicle inspection exercise by July.
“Don’t get surprised when you dont see many of the old taxis you usually off the road because vehicles found not to be fit to be on the road, will not be given the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence.” Gen Katumba Wamala said.
While commenting about the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety that took place in Marrakech in Morocco that took place from 18th to 20tb February 2025 that he attended, Minister Katumba Wamala said that Ministers from over 100 countries worldwide committed to reduce road accident crashes and deaths on roads by half by the year 2030.
The conference in Morocco was held undee the theme, “Commit to Life”, and the event brought togetner leaders and experts to accelerate action towards the Sustainable Development Goals’ target of halving global road deaths by 2030.
Gen Katumba said reaffirmed Uganda’s commitment to the global target saying that whether it is pedestrian, cyclist or driver, one must commit to save a life on the road saying that it does not make sense to report high number of deaths and crashes on the road in every annual report.
Gen Katumba Wamala said that government will target new players to be brought on board in terms of ensuring road safety saying that multinational companies and other members of the private sector in the fight are needed to come on board with their ideas.
