The Driver and Licensing Vehicle Authority (DVLA), has introduced new smart card to help address security issues and make license acquisition easier.
It appears that the current government in power wants all the public service agencies to switch to digital, with the aim of reducing corruption. An example is the Ghana Ports and Harbour which has gone paperless for the clearing of goods from the port. It is believed that this system saves time for customers and money for the state too. The DVLA system follows on the heel of the recent digital addressing system by the Ghana Post, and now DVLA goes digital.
There have been various controversies with the DVLA in the past times with the issue of “goro boys” found at the licensing authority’s premises who are said to be collecting bribes from individuals who come to get their vehicles licensed in the name of helping them skip long queues, and other disturbing issues as well.
The deputy CEO of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, Mr. Kwame A. Kubi speaking on citi fm, stated that, ”it’s there that the issue of ‘goro boys’ is removed”.
DVLA’s new smart biometric smart card has gone through process that started from January to November, 2017. The new license card contains a visionless chip that is loaded with owner’s bio- data and driver’s personal information for secured identification.
According to the licensing authority, the new license takes six years before issuing a renewal, and also one can access the new card within the period of two to four weeks.
The Licensing Authority has explained that, the very purposes of this new registration are to eliminate goro boys and retrieval of driver’s information. It is to also help track information about vehicles which often times go contrary to rules and stolen vehicles as well.
License cards will have the state of Art-Technology makes use of the latest technology for secured ID printing that can be easily integrated with other systems of the DVLA. This will enhance the vehicle registration process since application and process could be done online.
Data will electronically be generated which is going to help the police to easily go in to flash data information, and help retrieve stolen vehicles.
Mr. Robert Sabah who is the Vice Chair of the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU) has stated that the Union will go throughout the nation to educate its members. Government is also required to educate the whole public as well before the implementation of the new license card.
By: Diana Nartey
