DVLA moves to end seven-month wait for driving licences
Ghana's DVLA says it will decentralise the printing of driving licences after applicants were forced to wait up to seven months and in some cases a year to receive their cards.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is to decentralise the printing of driving licences in an attempt to end delays that have left some applicants waiting for up to a year for their cards.
Under the new system, DVLA offices across the country will be able to print licences locally instead of relying on a central printing point at the authority's head office.
DVLA Chief Executive Julius Neequaye Kotey announced the plan on Friday, August 21, at the commissioning of a new DVLA office at Amrahia in the Adenta Municipality.
He said the current system has only two machines at the head office printing licences for the whole country, creating a backlog and long waiting times.
“Every station, every office in Ghana, we have one centralised point to print licence forms. And that is the head office,” Mr Kotey said.
“Now we are doing decentralisation so that every office of the authority of DVLA can print its own licence.”
The change is intended to make it possible for applicants to receive their cards much faster once the decentralised system is fully operational.
However, the new arrangement will not mean that all new driving licences can be obtained immediately.
Mr Kotey said instant printing would initially apply only to replacement cards. Applicants seeking a new driving licence will still have to complete the mandatory three-month licensing process before receiving their cards.
“When you are coming for a new licence, you have to go through the three months before you get your card,” he said, describing the requirement as an international standard.
The distinction means that someone replacing an expired six-year licence could receive the replacement card instantly at a participating DVLA office, while a first-time applicant would still have to complete the required licensing process.
The announcement comes after months of complaints over delays in obtaining physical driving licence cards.
The DVLA says the decentralisation programme is designed to remove the dependence on a single central printing facility and allow individual offices to handle printing themselves.
For drivers and applicants, the main potential benefit is a shorter wait for replacement cards and, eventually, a more efficient licensing service.
The authority did not give a specific date for when every DVLA office would begin printing licences locally, nor did it state how quickly the existing backlog would be cleared.