DVLA vows to take legal action over alleged sale of 37 office

The Board of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has accused the previous government of unlawfully selling its former Greater Accra Regional Office land, located behind the Ghana Police Church, to private individuals, despite the site having been compulsorily acquired for a now-defunct public project.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, the Board Chairman of the DVLA, George Spencer Quaye, alleged that the land, originally taken over by the state for the proposed “Energy City” initiative, had been sold to private developers after the project failed to materialise.

He described the move as a breach of trust and a violation of the original purpose of the land acquisition.

“We were relocated from this property for a national project, but as we speak, there is no Energy City here. Instead, the land has been sold off to private developers. This is a clear breach of the purpose for which it was taken,” Quaye said.

According to him, part of the land is now being used by a Swiss-owned company as a vehicle warehouse, while other parcels are reportedly being sold at market rates of up to $3 million per acre.

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Quaye argued that, under Ghanaian law, land acquired by the government for a specific public purpose must revert to its original owner if that purpose is not fulfilled, stressing that the continued sale and private use of the property violates both legal and ethical standards.

The Chief Executive Officer of the DVLA, Julius Neequaye Kotey, also condemned the actions of the previous administration, calling them a betrayal of public trust.

“This land still belongs to DVLA. If the Energy City project failed, the land should have been returned to us — not sold off,” he stated.

MKotey further revealed that the DVLA’s current regional office at Haatso-Bohye, where it was relocated after the original land acquisition, is not registered in the Authority’s name. A land title search, he said, shows the property belongs to a private developer, Unique Development Groups, rather than the government or DVLA.

“We are now occupying land that doesn’t belong to us and are expected to pay the private owner for using it. Meanwhile, our own land has been given away,” he lamented.

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He added that the current site poses significant operational challenges due to traffic congestion, which discourages customers and affects the Authority’s revenue.

Kotey pledged that the DVLA Board would pursue legal and administrative remedies, announcing plans to petition the Attorney General, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, and the National Security Secretariat.

“We will not relent until this land is returned to DVLA,” he vowed. “We are committed to building a proper public office that serves the Ghanaian people, not watching as public property is handed over for private profit. We will not defend the mistakes of the past, but we will do everything necessary to correct them.”