Avoid corrupt practices or face prosecution – DVLA cautions staff
Mr. Frank Davies, Board Chairman of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has cautioned staff of the DVLA, not to indulge in corrupt practices and that those caught in the act would not only be sacked but prosecuted altogether.
Mr. Frank Davies, a legal practitioner, was addressing the opening ceremony of the 2019 mid-year review conference, of the Authority in Sunyani.
“I want to caution individual staff who want to ride at the back of the Authority to amass wealth, that the Board would not countenance any act that seeks to mar the reputation of the Authority and that they would not be spared, but shown the exit and possibly, be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others,” Mr. Davies said.
The three day conference on the theme “Continuity and Service Delivery for Growth, Safety and Security,” was attended by about 90 participants, made up of Regional Managers, Management and Board members. The conference is aimed at assessing the Authority’s operations and re-strategise to achieve its goals by the end of the year.
Mr. Davies recounted the progress of the DVLA over the years, saying that, it had come far in its scheme of operations, from the metallic state of license acquisition, to the booklet-form and now biometric.
Similarly the process of vehicle registration has also transformed rapidly, from the creation and stockpiling of files to the present stage where vehicles are being registered electronically and the owners issued with vehicle registration smart cards, he added.
“As a result vehicle owners no longer have to carry pile of files containing details of their vehicle to any DVLA office since verification, change of ownership and transaction could be done easily electronically,” he sad.
He said another remarkable stride was that, applicants of driver’s license could start the process in their homes by applying online to generate an invoice and consequently have the process completed at any DVLA office, making the turnaround time of doing business very swift.
Mr. Davies therefore called for honest, passionate and dedicated service delivery by staff on behalf of the Authority, to build on its achievements in recent years since “the Board together with Management will not sit unconcerned for a few to put the Authority in a reverse gear.”
Mr. Kwasi Agyeman Busia, the Chief Executive Officer of the DVLA in a remark praised the staff for their diligent team work, that has culminated to the current state of the Authority.
He said “the Authority has modestly covered some ground from a notorious list of being described as one of the most corrupt institutions, to arguably an enviable list of one of those to pay attention to and be emulated in the public sector.”
Mr. Busia explained that the conference was to assess the new DVLA, re-energize and seek fresh perspectives and identify new ways to old things, to ensure improvement “on work flows and process turnaround times, as well as devise better control measures to mitigate fraud.”
Mr. Emmanuel Klugah, the Sunyani Regional Manager, earlier in a welcoming address, said the DVLA had seen significant shift in its operations in the last decade, with significant successes.
However, he said the Authority is not content, since emerging challenges with customer dynamics and technological advances, continued to create both opportunities and threats.
Mr. Klugah said to remain relevant as an organisation and keep pace with changing times, the review meeting, was crucial for a government agency entrusted with the mandate to overseeing among others, the licensing of drivers and registration of vehicles.
Source: GNA