DVLA TO COLLABORATE WITH STAKEHOLDERS (MIRROR, PAGE 31, MAY 15, 2010)

From George Ernest Asare, Fumesua.

THE Acting Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Mr J.M.Y. Amegashie, has given assurance that the DVLA will collaborate with all stakeholders to raise the benchmarks for issuing driving licence to prospective drivers.
This, according to Mr Amegashie, is to improve safety on the highways and also ensure professionalism , discipline and sanity, thereby reducing the road carnage and its effect on society.
The DVLA is also to install CCTV cameras at its headquarters in Accra to enhance monitoring of its operations, improve client service and weed out recalcitrant staff members.
Plans are also far advanced for management to improve the skills of staff in the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) to enhance efficiency in service delivery.
Addressing management and staff of the DVLA during their Annual General Meeting in Kumasi, Mr Amegashie expressed concern about negative attitude of some of the staff members by way of colluding with the public to provide licences to prospective drivers without testing their competence or otherwise.
“Some of you collaborate with the staff in the capture room so that those who do not go through test or practical tests end up obtaining the driver’s licence,” he bemoaned.
He pointed out that it was important for them to strictly adhere to standards and procedures in issuing driver’s licence, saying, “ the 70-per cent pass mark in respect of passing driving test needs to be reviewed upwards. A change in this direction would give value and integrity to the driving licence”.
He challenged the workers to initiate policies and programmes that would re-brand the DVLA as a way of winning public confidence and respect.
“ We, as an organisation, need to change in several aspects of our lives. We need to improve safety on the road and restore the status of the driver’s licence; we also have to ensure that vehicles with defects are kept off the road,” he advised.
Mr Amegashie said during the first quarter of 2010, the DVLA collected GH¢5,424,753.00 as against GH¢2,606,494.00 for last year due to the increase in rates and charges of services.