By Wairagala Wakabi |
In June 2025, Uganda switched on the Automated Electronic Penalty System (EPSAuto), using CCTV cameras, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), and an intelligent transport monitoring system (ITMS) to fine motorists. But the system, ostensibly aimed at bringing order to the country’s chaotic roads, quickly generated controversy.
EPSAuto was suspended within days. More than a year later, on October 6, Ugandan Attorney General Sam Mayanja declared that the 2021 contract with a Russian company for the ITMS, including digital number plates and vehicle tracking, was legally void and unenforceable. The experience points to a bigger question confronting countries in Africa and elsewhere: what happens when the technologies introduced to make cities safer also make it easier for the government to identify and track its citizens?
A recent report, Smart City Surveillance in Africa: Mapping Chinese AI Surveillance Across 11 Countries, identified more than US$2 billion in spending on the surveillance of public spaces in Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, although the real amount is likely much higher. And much of this financing came from Chinese companies.
The research finds no compelling evidence of smart-city surveillance reducing terrorism or serious crime in Africa. Senegal and Zambia have invested heavily in these systems despite facing relatively few security threats. In Mozambique, the technology — which, tellingly, is concentrated in opposition strongholds — has not improved the authorities’ response to serious crimes like kidnappings. Similarly, in Nigeria, heavy spending on surveillance has done little to stem insecurity.
This raises the problem of “function creep.” As the uproar around Uganda’s EPSAuto shows, there are concerns — often valid — that smart-city surveillance tools are being used to identify and monitor activists, opposition figures, critics, and protesters. The same unease was documented in Zimbabwe.
NB: The excerpts above are drawn from an article by Wairagala Wakabi published on Project Syndicate on October 21, 2026. The research, Smart City Surveillance in Africa: Mapping Chinese AI Surveillance Across 11 Countries, is available on open access.