<<Print>>

The Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) has launched a new electronic road worthy sticker to replace the existing manual and handwritten one as one of the key reforms within the transport sector. The exercise being undertaking in collaboration with Controller and Accountant General�s Department (CAGD) would start from December 3, and would focused on motor vehicles (whether new or used) submitted to the DVLA or its accredited agencies for first time registration and those submitted for renewal of road worthy stickers. Commercial vehicles with stickers less than three months old from the date of certificate would be replaced at no cost to the vehicle owner while private vehicles with stickers less than six months old from the date of certificate would be replaced at no cost to the vehicle owner. Mrs Dzifa Attivor, Minister of Transport, who launched the programme in Accra on Tuesday, said it is the policy of government that revenue would be secured through the introduction of systems and products that would prevent leakage. She said the introduction of the new sticker would ensure that only vehicles properly inspected, tested and certified as roadworthy would be issued with the new sticker to ensure safety and reduce the carnage on the roads. �The e-roadworthy sticker will help control the incidence of faking associated with the manual and hand written stickers currently in use. This will also result in the security of revenue in the sense that, government revenue that would have been unlawfully siphoned by the faking industry is collected for national development,� she said. She said in a developing country such as Ghana, the population of vehicles would continue to grow and measures such as the e-roadworthy would be required to keep pace with crimes and other vices related to vehicle ownership and maintenance. Mrs Attivor said the safety and security of road transport users is of much concern to the ministry and in common with Ghanaians, government is looking to a DVLA that would exert absolute control in the management of drivers and vehicles in the country. �The ministry sees the introduction of the product as an opportunity to create a reliable database of registered vehicles and therefore called on the DVLA to ensure that facilities are provided for the creation of a database, which would enhance the safety and security of vehicles. �Stolen vehicles, unregistered vehicles and un-roadworthy vehicles could easily be identified by the use of this product and the owners apprehended to face the law,� she added. She expressed the hope that the public, vehicle owners and road transport service providers would embrace the product and comply with all requirements and regulations related to it. She commended DVLA and the CAGD for yet another milestone initiative aimed at attaining international standard. Mr Rudolph Beckley, Chief Executive of DVLA, said government is committed to reform the transport sector to fix the regulatory failures of the past and put the sector on a sustainable and stable footing. He said the new sticker would promote the use of sound vehicles, reduce the number of rickety vehicles dotted on the roads; minimise harmful exhaust emissions; increase the reliability of vehicles and limiting the risk of vehicle breakdown, and more significantly contributing towards the essence of road safety. He said the new stick unlike the old one has two major components � a production part and a verification part. �Whilst the production part synchronises with the vehicle data to ensure that the sticker is produced with a genuine vehicle data, the verification part authenticates the genuineness of the information pertaining to the vehicle and this is done by the law enforcement agencies,� he added. Mr Beckley noted that transport facilities growth and development in the other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, mining and tourism, and also enables Ghanaians to travel from one point to another. He said a well maintained vehicle therefore, not only speaks volumes about the owner, but would protect the owner from losses as well as injuries to other road users whilst improving safety of transport. He therefore pledged DVLA�s commitment to working closely with its stakeholders especially the operators of public transport services in the implementation of reforms to better deliver on its mandate. Mrs Grace Adzroe, Controller and Accountant General, said the significant contributions of vehicle licensing fees to Non Tax Revenue of government provides ample justification for taking a critical look at systems of revenue collection. She said the introduction of the product is in line with government policy to use information communication technology (ICT) to drive service delivery in public institutions and therefore urged management of DVLA to monitor closely the E-Roadworthy system to ensure that revenue due government is collected. �I wish to state that the introduction of this system alone does not guarantee total elimination of fraud but the authority must be mindful of the fact that some of these fraudsters may be highly computer literate and are capable of using ICT to produce similar certificates which may be difficult to detect. �In line with the responsibility of the Controller and Accountant-General for the printing of value books as well as ensuring the integrity of accounting systems, the department will continue to collaborate with the DVLA to ensure that the management of the E-roadworthy certificates is conducted under conditions of security,� she said. Mrs Adzroe urged the authority to regularly update the control systems of the E-Roadworthy certificates to prevent any possible abuse in the use of the system.