Vituko Mitaani

Unscrupulous traffic officer are using forged Express Penalty Scheme (EPS) forms (popularly referred to as receipts) as a tool of extorting money from traffic offending motorists.

Investigations by the Saturday Monitor can reveal that some officers using fake books, arrest traffic offenders ranging from those without driving licenses to those that are driving on road shoulders. However, instead of issuing forms that the offenders are supposed to use to pay into the bank, the officers use forms from the fake books to blackmail motorists into paying them cash (often less than the official fine) and the form is then purportedly cancelled, leaving the offenders to drive off free.

In our investigations, drivers narrated how the officers intimidate them into paying a fine in cash, or else their vehicles or driving licences are detained.

In all the scenarios, the officers identified an offence with the driver, immediately recorded the offences but the forms are written out but not issued. If one pleads and offers to part with a little cash, then the form is “cancelled”. Most motorists do not know whether the form is genuine of fake.

The Commissioner for Traffic in Kampala city, Mr Lawrence Niwabiine, expressed shock on looking at the fake EPS book that our reporter had obtained from Nkrumah Road in Kampala saying, “People have now gone too far.” “Unless it is a Police officer like us who have spent some time on this job, a lay man cannot differentiate this EPS book from a genuine one,” Mr Niwabiine said.

Ms Sarah Kibwika, the Ag. Assistant Commissioner of Traffic, however said that she could not tell how a traffic officer would benefit from printing a fake book. She instead accused offenders of forging bank receipts. “The actual problem is of people forging paid bank receipts to dupe Police that they have paid their fine. But I would like to assure them that their receipts will remain pending in our records and we will track them.”

Ms Kibwika said motorist should know that a genuine receipt cannot be cancelled. “The only ground that can happen is when the offender appears in court and proves that the receipt was wrongly issued.”
The books are prone to abuse since they lack safety features. “The best people can do is to consult the Uganda Revenue Authority,” said Mr Niwabiine.

The books are procured by URA and fetched from the body’s offices by the procurement officer who registers all the books received and their serial numbers. At the police headquarters, each Police station head collects books that will be used at their respective police stations after registering the serial numbers that have been dispatched to their stations.

At the police stations, each officer in possession of the book will be registered and he will have to provide a weekly report of the receipts issued and other details of the offender. Efforts to get comment from URA were futile as the officers responsible were said to be in a meeting.

How easy it was to buy the fake book

We embarked on a process to procure the EPS form book, and got it in a space of three days. A long Nkrumah Road, in one of the many printing companies, I asked a gentleman clad in black jeans, tucked in a white shirt, and dark blue sunglasses hanging by his forehead where we could get the EPS form books. I told him I needed a duplicated EPS book. Without hesitation, the gentleman asked me how much I would offer him as he called his colleague who he ordered to talk to me and take my order.

I was told to pay Shs450,000 for it, but said I had Shs100,000. We bargained and he told me that if I do not have Shs250,000, I cannot get the book anywhere. Not knowing much, I budged and promised to call him. Three days later, I called him at around 11am and told him that he should process the book as I would need it in the evening. He told me to first deposit at least Shs100, 000, which I did.

Within two-and-a-half hours, the gentleman called that the book was ready. I picked it, paid the balance Shs150,000 and waved good bye.