Don’t renew expired contracts – DVLA ordered

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has been directed to put on hold, renewal of all expired or expiring contracts pending thorough evaluation.

Brigadier General I. B. Quartey (Retired), the Board Chairman, said the move was to ensure that that the Authority took on some of the jobs that could be performed by its own staff instead of giving these out to third parties.

Due to this, he announced that, 128 additional personnel – mostly technicians were going to be employed.

This comes amid steps by the government to grant operational autonomy and wean the DVLA and other agencies that are doing well financially off its support.

Brig-Gen Quartey, while addressing the opening session of a two-day workshop at Fumesua near Kumasi, said it needed to adopt a proactive approach to its operations to remain in business.

“If we have to survive – to be able to pay ourselves, meet other capital and administrative expenditure, then we need to change the face of the DVLA.”

The workshop, which was attended by national, regional and district officers from across the country discussed the Authority’s 2016 work plan and budget.

“Changing the face of DVLA towards self-sustenance and reliability of service” was the theme.

Brig-Gen Quartey called for complete elimination from its system, corrupt practices and middlemen, popularly referred to as ‘goro boys’, to rake in more revenue without compromising safety.

He told the workers to adopt new work ethics to regain public confidence and warned of swift and decisive action against acts of indiscipline.

Mr. John Noble Appiah, the Chief Executive Officer, underlined its determination to invest in the human resource and technical operations to deliver quality services to the public.

He vowed to wage war on corrupt practices and encouraged the regional and district managers to show strong leadership to achieve desired results.