Parliament yesterday approved a government request to secure a loan of $104m (Shs386.6b) to procure 3,233 CCTV cameras to install in Kampala Metropolitan Area.
The approval came after MPs debated a report by the Committee on National Economy presented by its chairperson, Ms Syda Bbumba (Nakaseke North, NRM), which scrutinised the request.
Ms Bbumba said the loan agreement had already been signed with Standard Chartered Bank, the key mobiliser of the required funds.
She said the loan will be paid over 12 years at an annual interest of 5 percent.
The three year phased program started last year with now 1756 cameras already installed out of the 3233 cameras planned in different parts of the country.
While defending the loan request before Parliament, Obiga Kania, State Minister for Internal Affairs said that out of the installed cameras, 446 remain dormant as they wait to be connected but this is due to power system whose connections are being worked on to see them operate.
Minister Obiga said that on average of 100,000 cases per year and the current cost of investigating one criminal case at least Shs5M and if the cameras are installed, the cost to investigate will reduce to Shs2M per case and upon full completion of the project Uganda is to save Shs200Bn annually in investigation of cases.
However, some MPs expressed mixed concerns over the project and government’s continuous accumulation of loans.
Mr Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye West, DP) said he was opposed to the loan because it is expensive.
“I am not in support of the approval of the loan because it is an expensive venture where we are going to spend $86m (Shs319.7b) on the project whereas the balance will be taken back in the loan terms,” he said.
Mr Ssewanyana and other MPs questioned why government would buy more when 446 of the 1,300 cameras already installed in the first phase that was implemented last year are not working.
The legislators also tasked government to explain why the new cameras cannot be installed outside Kampala, especially on the highways to curb accidents.
Mr David Bahati, the State Minister for Finance in charge of Planning, said government is putting efforts in domestic revenue mobilisation strategy to be able to finance the national budget by 80 per cent three years from now to reduce the increasing loans.
It should be recalled that Government signed a contract of USD120,259,686.83 on 28th May 2018 with Huawei Technologies (Uganda) Co. for the provision of goods and services relating to the Uganda Safe City CCTV System and the loan facility will mature in 12 years, including 3 years of grace period and the interest on the loan is 8%.
