Chief Executive of the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Julius Neequaye Kotey, has outlined new reforms aimed at revolutionising vehicle registration and service delivery in Ghana, with technology at the heart of his strategy.
Mr Kotey revealed that the DVLA will, from January, roll out a new Digital Processing (DP) sticker designed to improve accountability in vehicle registration.
“The new DP sticker allows us to track who is driving the car, when it arrived in Ghana, its destination, and the date the sticker expires.
“Once scanned, the code reveals all these details. It was wrong to have cars in the system without knowing their owners, but now, right from the port, we know who owns the vehicle,” he said on Face to Face on Channel One TV.
He further disclosed that the new system will also make license plates more informative. “For instance, a plate will read GR 222 AD, with AD representing Adenta. We have completed all the legal groundwork and intend to roll this out on the first of January,” he added.
Kotey has consistently expressed his ambition to modernise the DVLA by leveraging digital tools to enhance efficiency and stamp out corruption.
In a past interview on Hot Issues on TV3, he revealed the challenges he encountered upon assuming office.
“We had only one telephone for calls at the DVLA head office when I got into office. We are also going to have a call centre that will attend to customer concerns and complaints,” he said, noting that poor communication infrastructure had hindered operations in the past.
Addressing public frustration over delays at the DVLA, he reaffirmed his commitment to faster service delivery.
“I want to build the DVLA where in 15 minutes the customer is served. I want to use technology to solve a lot of the problems,” Kotey stated.
Beyond delays, corruption has long plagued the DVLA, with unauthorized middlemen—popularly called goro boys—exploiting desperate applicants.
Mr Kotey acknowledged the persistence of this challenge and reiterated his determination to eliminate such practices through stronger systems and improved oversight.
