"The public will be notified through public notices and media announcements, when they can come to pick their licenses," says a statement from the Works and Transport Ministry. The refusal by the government to renew the license of Face Technologies drew public reactions, which had largely given approval of the South African company for the efficiency, it exhibited relative to previous operations.
The issuance
of driving permits at all regional offices remains suspended as normalcy
returns at the Kampala head offices of Face Technologies.
Hundreds of people thronged the Kyambogo-based offices for the third day
to get their documents after the offices were reopened after seven days of suspension.
Ministry of Works and Transport, says Face Technologies informed them that they
wouldn’t be able to remobilize their resources to resume operations at their
upcountry offices.
Face Technologies had dismantled the systems ready to hand
over the operations to the new contractor, Uganda Security Printing Company by
December 1 as per the government arrangements. Until March 1, 2021, when USPC takes over, the operations at Arua, Fort Portal,
Gulu, Jinja, Mbale and Mbarara will remain closed for renovations. The ministry
has arranged for officers to be stationed at the regional offices to issue
licenses that had already been processed by December 1, 2020.
"The public will be notified through public notices and media
announcements, when they can come to pick their licenses," says a
statement from the Works and Transport Ministry. The refusal by the government to
renew the license of Face Technologies drew public reactions, which had largely
given approval of the South African company for the efficiency, it exhibited
relative to previous operations.
And the government seems to agree to this, according to its
terms set for the new company. The ministry says it has signed a service level
agreement with USPC on the level of service expected of them during their
operations. "They can only maintain the current level of service or
even improve it.
Actually, our goal is to provide a one-hour service, not only at the Kampala
offices but all other regional offices as well," reads the statement. The
contract for Face Technologies had been renewed several times since 2003 until
the government felt there was adequate local capacity.
The contract was on the basis of "Build, Own, Operate and Transfer." According
to the ministry, the contract by Face Technologies was supposed to expire in
May but was extended to November because the national lockdown and the international
travel restrictions could not enable the process to be implemented, as most of
the equipment is to be imported from Europe.
Still, in November, the new contractor couldn’t be ready, hence the extension. The
government, through the Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation, owns 51% if
USPC, while the German bases Veridos owns the rest.
