We have sanctioned private vehicle testing stations for approving rickety vehicles — DVLA

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has taken punitive action against some private vehicle testing stations for allegedly prioritising the number of vehicles inspected over the quality of safety checks.

The authority’s Chief Executive Officer, Julius Neequaye Kotey, disclosed this at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, October 12, 2026, following monitoring exercises that exposed shortcomings in the inspection of vehicles before roadworthiness stickers were issued.

Mr Kotey expressed concern about the practices, stressing that private vehicle testing stations had been entrusted with the responsibility of determining whether vehicles met the required safety standards for use on Ghana’s roads.

“The phenomenon of rickety vehicles on our roads remains of critical concern to us. The laws of DVLA have placed an enormous responsibility in the hands of private vehicle testing stations and have charged them to examine vehicles before issuing them with road-worthy stickers,” he said.

“Unfortunately, our monitoring exercises have revealed that some of these stations take delight in the numbers rather than the quality of inspection. We have taken some punitive actions against a couple of them,” he added.

DVLA plans real-time monitoring
To strengthen supervision, Mr Kotey said the authority was planning to introduce a system that would require private vehicle testing stations to transmit images and videos of inspections in real time.

He explained that the proposed arrangement would allow the DVLA’s monitoring room to observe inspection activities across the country and verify that the required checks had been carried out before vehicles were certified.

The authority is also engaging stakeholders on plans to upgrade vehicle testing stations to meet the demands of modern vehicles.

The proposed improvements include better inspection equipment, diagnostic technology and updated testing procedures.

The DVLA says the measures are intended to improve the credibility of roadworthiness assessments and prevent vehicles that do not meet safety requirements from being certified for use on Ghana’s roads.