The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is decentralising the printing of driver’s licence cards across its offices nationwide in a move aimed at reducing delays in accessing replacement licences.
The authority currently relies on its head office to print licence cards for the entire country, with only two machines available for the process.
Explaining the new arrangement, a DVLA official said the decentralisation would allow individual offices to print replacement licence cards instantly.
“Every station, every office in Ghana, we have one centralised point to print licence forms. And that is the head office. We have only two machines printing for the whole of Ghana. Now we are doing decentralisation so that every office of the authority of DVLA can print its own licence.”
The move is expected to address situations where applicants have had to wait for extended periods before receiving their licence cards.
“Then the situation where one person comes to buy a licence for one year, before he or she gets it, should be a thing of the past,” he said.
Under the new system, however, instant printing will apply specifically to replacement cards and licences whose six-year validity period has expired.
“Every office will now print, but we are printing instantly, for only replacement of cards. When your six years have expired, we will now print for you instantly,” he explained.
Applicants applying for a new driver’s licence will still be required to go through the prescribed three-month process before receiving their cards.
“But when you are coming for a new licence, you have to go through the three months before you get your card. That is ISO; it goes beyond Ghana. It is an international standard,” he added.
