Uganda and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have introduced a new set of special registration plates for humanitarian vehicles, marking a major step in efforts to streamline emergency response operations across the region. The announcement was made during a ceremony in Kampala on December 3, which also saw the signing of an agreement to establish a WFP Emergency Fleet Hub in the capital.
The launch brought together officials from the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the President and the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS) Project, the entity behind the production of the new plates.
Foreign Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odongo said the initiative underscores Uganda’s longstanding role as a leader in humanitarian assistance. He noted that the country, which currently hosts Africa’s largest refugee population, continues to play an essential role in supporting regional stability.
‘By hosting the WFP Global Fleet Hub, we are extending our humanitarian leadership beyond our borders,’ Gen Odongo said. ‘This agreement shows that when we invest in logistics and remove unnecessary barriers, we save lives not only in Uganda but across the continent.’
The special plates, manufactured in Uganda, form part of a wider digital system that links hardware and software to improve vehicle tracking, enhance security and strengthen registration processes. Officials described the rollout as a landmark innovation in the country’s transport and regulatory infrastructure.
Works and Transport Minister Gen Edward Katumba Wamala said the new licence plates reinforce Uganda’s growing influence as a transport and logistics centre for East and Central Africa.
‘Our position in the region, supported by solid transport networks and progressive policies, makes Kampala the natural home for this continental logistics hub,’ Gen Katumba said. ‘These distinctive UN/WFP plates are not just about administration-they represent a shared commitment to ensuring critical supplies reach disaster zones without delay.’
Under the agreement, Uganda and WFP will collaborate on three key objectives, that is, deployment of distinctive UN/WFP plates that allow humanitarian vehicles to move freely across African borders without lengthy de-registration or re-registration procedures; scrapping of regulatory bottlenecks that have historically slowed the movement of relief convoys and trengthening regional protocols to cut transit times and operational costs while complementing commercial transport capacity.
WFP Uganda Country Director Marcus Prior said the fleet hub will dramatically increase the organisation’s capacity to respond to emergencies in multiple countries from a central location.
‘When conflict displaces communities in the Great Lakes region, Kampala will become the launch point for rapid, coordinated response,’ he said. ‘The plates we received today are more than identifiers-they are tools that enable life-saving action.’
ITMS Project Manager Damir Makhmutov, whose team supplied the plate technology, praised Uganda’s investment in smarter transport solutions, saying the initiative positions the country as a continental leader in digital logistics.
In 2024, WFP Uganda moved more than 173,000 metric tons of food assistance to over 545 distribution points within the country, supporting more than two million people. An additional 43,000 metric tons of relief items were delivered to neighbouring countries including Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The new fleet hub is expected to increase this reach significantly.
WFP remains the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, providing emergency food assistance while supporting communities recovering from conflict, disasters and climate-related shocks.