The Chief Executive Officer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Julius Neequaye Kotey, has justified the Authority’s decision to cancel the operations of 12 private companies involved in distributing vehicle number plates on behalf of the DVLA.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Kotey said the move was part of efforts to restore control, improve accountability and address gaps that contributed to the under-registration of vehicles in the country.
According to him, vehicle registration figures were significantly low before the reforms were introduced, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the previous system.
“Before we came, the highest number of vehicles registered was 1,800 a month,” he disclosed.
He explained that the introduction of DP stickers at the ports helped the DVLA track vehicles more effectively and improve compliance, resulting in a sharp rise in registrations.
“Since we introduced the stickers, the lowest we have done is 15,000 a month. So you can imagine what they did,” he said.
Mr Kotey argued that the difference in registration figures exposed weaknesses in the previous system, where vehicle tracking and number plate distribution were not adequately controlled.
He revealed that the DVLA discovered that 12 companies had been authorised to distribute number plates on behalf of the Authority, a situation he said created room for loopholes.
“They created 12 companies, and they were distributing number plates on behalf of DVLA,” he stated.
To tighten supervision and ensure the process remained directly accountable to the Authority, Mr Kotey said he took the decision to cancel the arrangement and replace it with a new system.
“I cancelled all the 12 companies and have now employed contract staff to do that on our behalf,” he explained.
According to him, the change has helped the DVLA improve monitoring of vehicle registrations, with the Authority recording higher numbers under the new system.
“We have even registered 18,000 plates,” he added.
Mr Kotey said the reforms are aimed at ensuring that all vehicles entering and operating in Ghana are properly captured in the national database while reducing opportunities for abuse within the registration process.
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