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24.10.2014 Special Report

Ripples Of Soul Takers: DVLA IN LIMBO...Shield Erring Staff from Prosecution?

More Fake Licenses Pop Up Leading To More Fatalities On Our Roads
By Anas Aremeyaw Anas
Ripples Of Soul Takers: DVLA IN LIMBO...Shield Erring Staff from Prosecution?
24.10.2014 LISTEN

The New Crusading GUIDE has picked up signals that there is a deliberate attempt by some top officials of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to shield their officers caught taking bribes in “GHANA'S SOUL TAKERS”.

Soul Takers, a road safety documentary premiered and aired a few months ago,detailed a harrowing account of how acts of corruption and greed by DVLA officials and hangers-on at most DVLA premises referred to as 'gorro boys,' resulted in the issuance of fake licenses to people.

The story also brought to light the frustrations of people who genuinely applied for licenses but had to wait for long months and years without getting their documents.

The DVLA's Reaction to Soul Takers Exposé

When the story broke on the 9th of April this year, the DVLA under its current Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Rudolf Beckley;formed a committee to look into the issues raised in the documentary,particularly the issuance of fake licenses. Till date however, nothing has been heard of the committee's findings.

Even though Mr. Beckley was very cooperative with the Tiger Eye when the story first broke, tongues are wagging within the DVLA that he is getting a lot of pressure from some political bigwigs not to investigate or sack the corrupt officers who were caught on camera.

“I know CEO has been approached by some top politicians not to take action on this matter but my worry is that people continue to issue fake licenses here (at the DVLA), so the people caught should be used as scapegoats to deter my other colleagues from this criminal acts that kill people on our roads,” a source within the DVLA intimated under anonymity.

The DVLA Greater Accra Regional Manager, Mr. Noah Tetteh Martey first hinted of an internal committee to look into the matter following which eight employees were interdicted.

After that, a six-member committee headed by Mr. CheyuoWiennaMusah, who is Director of Driver Training, Testing and Licensing Unit of the DVLA was constituted.The New Crusading GUIDE was reliably informed that the committee met with all eight officials but till date, the DVLA is yet to release the contents of the queries or a report from the work of the committee.

Meanwhile in an interview with this paper, a concerned citizen questioned how long it was going to take the DVLA to take the necessary steps to remedy the rot and fraud that their officials are still committing after the exposé.

“It simply beats my imagination that an institution like the DVLA, six clear months after a scandalous and damning exposé as Soul Takers is still to make a concrete and definitive move on punishing complicit officials; why won't anyone think that they cannot prosecute their own,” he lamented.


AG's Department, Police: Ready to Prosecute

Meanwhile deep throat sources at the Attorney General's Department have told the paper that they were expecting that by now the DVLA would have approached them to collaborate in the arrest and prosecution of their complicit officials. They seem surprised at the turn of events.

Indeed, the Attorney General, Madam Marietta Brew-Oppong and other dignitaries who graced the premiering expressed shock at the contents of the documentary and added their voices to the need to deal with complicit officials.

The transport minister, Ms. Dzifa Ativor in an interview on Accra based Citi FM stated that it would be in the interest of the DVLA to arrest and punish all officials who were caught on tape because they were working against the transformation of DVLA as an organization.

“The police have put in place measures to arrest those people, wherever they go, their faces are on the video and we will chase and arrest them,” she added.

Further information gathered within the DVLA indicate that, the recent conviction of some cocoa smugglers by an Accra Fast Track High Court after a similar investigation by Anas Aremeyaw Anas and the Tiger Eye team had sent shivers down the spines of the erring workers.

It is their main reason for trying feverishly to lobby for their non-prosecution by using some political big wigs to corner the CEO and DVLA management.

The successful prosecution of cocoa smugglers by the Attorney General's department led by Senior State Attorney Evelyn Ama Keelson and other similar prosecutions in the past has sent a strong signal to erring officials that they are treading on slippery grounds.

Undercover footage has been employed in the past to try and convict offenders captured on tape by Anas' investigations. The 42 years conviction in the case of the Chinese Sex Mafia, 15 year jail term for pastor turn rapist Nana Kwesi Agyemang have underlined the admissibility of undercover evidence in court.

In other instances, undercover evidence led to the interdiction of officers in the Tema Harbour story and in the present DVLA story where eight officials are currently on interdiction.


DVLA's Loud Silence: The Unanswered Questionnaire

As a follow up to the DVLA's loud silence since interdicting some officials after the publication of Soul Takers, we requested for an interview with the DVLA to update us on what was the status of the internal committee's investigation.

We were directed to put our enquiries in a questionnaire addressed to the CEO of the authority. That we did, but till date, the DVLA requested has not responded tothe questionnaire.

The New Crusading GUIDE's quest to the DVLA was partly due to pressure from some members of the public who kept asking us questions about what was being done about the publication, which bordered on public safety. They also noted that the acts of bribery and corruption at most premises of the DVLA are still ongoing.

As at the time of going to press, we placed a call to the DVLA head of public relations, who promised to update us on the status of our questionnaire today. We are awaiting the DVLA's response to give it similar prominence in the greater public interest.


People Continue To Die On Our Roads
In the mean time, the number of deaths on our roads is on the rise, according to Mr. Rudolf Beckley; the country records an average of 2000 fatal deaths every year.

Across the country, the news media is replete with reports of lives perishing on our roads. Accidents recorded over the last few months include a VIP bus that crushed and killed 21 people on the Accra Kumasi Highway.

Death on the Bushroad, six persons losing their lives in the Sege Accident, nine others killed in a motor accident near Winneba, the Kintampo crash that took the lives of two NDC executives amongst a host others.

Yet, in the midst of all these, acts of bribery and corruption at most premises of the DVLA were still going on unabated.


Premiere of Soul Takers
Ghana's Soul Takers was the first of a three-part series on road safety. The film detailed the extent to which bribery and corruption on the part of officers of the DVLA could result in the avoidable loss of lives and property on the roads.

The second part titled; DOOM, looked at the socio economic implication of road accidents by telling three human interest stories that brought to the fore the stinging effect that road accidents brings unto society.

Contents of Ghana's Soul Takers was premiered in four shows over two days at the National Theater in Accra, before it was aired together with 'DOOM' on most television networks across the country.

The Soul Takers project was a collaboration between Tiger Eye Private Investigations and the Graphic Communications Group Limited; powered by Star Ghana.

In attendance at the premiering were people from a broad cross-section of the social strata. From the politicians, people in corporate Ghana, showbiz personalities and people from the diplomatic community amongst others.


4 NGOs to Demonstrate Against DVLA

Meanwhile, four NGOs have hinted to the New Crusading GUIDE and Graphic of an intended demonstration at the offices of the DVLA sometime next month over their inaction on the Soul Takers documentary.

The NGOs maintain that their action would support that of Anas Aremeyaw Anas's civil suit in the court to put pressure on the DVLA to act according to the law and to protect public safety.

The intended demonstration would also be to add our voice to calls by civil society and well meaning Ghanaians to ensure that officers who were caught on tape are sent to court and punished.

One leader summed up the group's intentions; “DVLA should be working the interest of the public good, Soul Takers showed how lack of supervision and corruption was proving costly to the average man. This must stop!,” he charged.

We are still keeping an eye on the next move by management of DVLA, whether they will release the committee's report, answer our questionnaire and or forward complicit officials to the AGs department for prosecution.

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