Kampala, Uganda: President Yoweri Museveni has linked the brutal murder of Mukono School Director and Rotarian, Godfrey Wayengera, to delays in the implementation of Uganda’s digital number plate system, reiterating that the project is a national security priority, not a tool for revenue collection.
Wayengera, 45, a resident of Namumira in Mukono Municipality and director of Beloved Daycare and Nursery School, was kidnapped on June 10, 2025, by armed men dressed in clothing resembling UPDF uniforms. Hours later, his body was found dumped near a railway line in Namumira.
Speaking to the Parliament on Thursday at Kololo, President Museveni cited Wayengera’s killing as evidence of why the country urgently needs to complete the digital number plate and CCTV surveillance infrastructure.
“I can’t accept our Ugandans dying because of incomplete infrastructure,” Mr Museveni said. “Remember when I addressed you in Parliament in 2019, I told you about the cameras. You were there with your policemen asking, ‘Ani eyamulabye?’”
He emphasized that digital number plates are critical to crime prevention and not designed to penalize motorists with fines.
“Let’s go technical. Let’s have smart means. These are digitized number plates with a central command—not collecting fines and so on,” he said. “Every vehicle must have a digital number plate traced by a central system to know which car, which boda was in an area when a crime was committed.”
In a police statement released earlier this week, it is alleged that Wayengera was travelling back from a burial in Mbale with his wife Christine Najabi when the assailants intercepted them.
Claiming they were taking the couple to Mukono Police for questioning, they instead diverted to Kyungu Road, where Wayengera was reportedly killed. Najabi was later dumped in Jinja Misindye, Goma Division, and rescued by locals who rushed her to Mukono General Hospital.
Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Patrick Onyango said Wayengera’s body was recovered near the railway and transported to Mulago City Mortuary for postmortem. Their vehicle, a silver Toyota Fielder registration number UBP 520A, was recovered abandoned in Misindye and is now in police custody. No arrests have been made.
Namumira village chairperson Henry Lukomu and defence secretary Abdukrim Tumusime blamed the deteriorating security on overgrown railway corridors, which have become criminal hideouts since residents were banned from farming along the lines.
Nsuube ‘A’ village chairperson Eric Ssemakula recounted the frantic search hours after Wayengera was reported missing. “We tracked the car using police cameras up to Iganga, but by morning we received news that his body had been dumped at Namumira,” Ssemakula said.
Deputy RDC of Mukono Hassan Kasibante condemned the killing and assured the bereaved family that authorities would spare no effort in hunting down the suspects.
President Museveni, meanwhile, recalled that the digital number plate initiative was first proposed in 2018 following a string of high-profile assassinations, including AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi, prosecutor Joan Kagezi, MPs Ibrahim Abiriga and Muhammad Kirumira, and Maj. Muhammad Kiggundu.
“We shall require every motorist and motorcyclist to have electronic number plates with an electronic signal in them. This will help us know which vehicle or pikipiki was in a particular area when a crime was committed,” Museveni said during his 2018 State of the Nation address.
He also noted that registered helmets with illuminated numbers, integrated with a police database, would become part of the broader digital surveillance strategy.
“The confusion about fines may be because we didn’t have the money and told these people to recover costs, but the issue has always been about security,” the president clarified.
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