They all start with UG, followed by a number then a letter code to identify the ministry, department, or agency.
Government vehicle are identified with the following codes:[3][4] Previously, Uganda had three agencies responsible for handling issues of license plates and these were; Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) and the Military Licensing Board (MLB).
However, with effect from 1 July 2023 all vehicle registration functions were fully handed over to the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) from Uganda Revenue Authority a move that had been in the pipeline for three years.
This led to the birth of ideas of such as installing surveillance cameras in major towns and highways and also the use of digital number plates on all motor vehicles to ease tracking of criminals that had made it a habit to use vehicles to flee scenes of crime and ultimately combat crime.The ideas were majorly fronted by the President of Uganda Rtd.
[12][13][14] Government of Uganda in 2021 signed an agreement with a Russian firm Joint Stock Global Security Company to deliver the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS) to be used in the tracking of motor vehicles in Uganda[15][16] However the process that led to contracting the company was contested and even probed by the parliamentary committee on physical infrastructure and later to a classified Committee of the House[17][18] However the probe and findings did not hinder government from continuing with the plan and the digital number plates drive was successfully launched in November 2023 by Security Minister Rtd Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi and his Works and Transport counterpart Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala starting with the installations of the technology enhanced plates on government owned vehicles.