Chief Executive Officer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Julius Neequaye Kotey has explained the reason behind the Authority’s decision to introduce new digital vehicle number plate system and do away with the embossment of number plates for vehicles.
The Authority’s plan to bring in this new digital vehicle number plate system is currently being contended in court with the parties involved raising legal issues about procurement processes.
Speaking in an interview on TV3’s Hot Issues, Sunday, January 25, 2026, Julius Kotey explained that the old system – which is the embossment of number plates sometimes creates criminal issues especially when cars are used for armed robbery.
He emphasised that in some cases security agencies during investigations write to DVLA to provide information on some vehicles of interest but the Authority is unable to do so due to the multitude of embossment companies.
“It’s an affront to the works of DVLA that sometimes the cars are on the streets with number plates but we don’t have information on them so one may ask how? Because there are about 154 companies that do embossment of number plates and they are scattered all over the place,” he stated.
He argued that these embossment companies barely conduct background search on vehicles before registering them leading to confusion and a gap in the system.
“You go there, you give them the number, they don’t do any background checks, they don’t request for any documentation, all they do is that they want money so they just emboss the number they want for you,” he lamented.
“The era where anyone anywhere has a machine so they can emboss number plate is what we want to do away with,” he stressed.
Providing more details about the new system, he said it will allow the Authority to provide chip-embedded number plates for vehicle users which will help identify every owner of a vehicle and in whose name the vehicle was registered.
“When we go into office I announced on a show that the DVLA is going to change the number plates, secondly, we want to award the contract of number plates to VALCO and also take off the year of registration off the number plates then make it RF-ID chip-embedded number plates where there will be a scanning device with security operatives and they can scan to know who is driving the car or who registered the car,” he added.
The DVLA is involved in a significant High Court case regarding the rollout of a new digital vehicle number plate system.
The suit was filed by the Vehicle Embossment Association of Ghana (VEMAG), representing 26 licensed companies (including BEMENCO Embossment Ltd), against the DVLA.
On January 23, 2026, the court granted an application by Original Manufacturers and Embossment Company Limited (OMEL)—the single company contracted by the DVLA to produce the new plates—to join the suit as a defendant.
They allege that the DVLA’s decision to award manufacturing and embossment rights to a single company is illegal, discriminatory, and a breach of procurement laws. They argue that this move sidelines existing licensed embossers who have invested heavily in specialized equipment (costing between GH¢70,000 and GH¢1 million per unit).
The Authority maintains that the digital system is within its statutory mandate to improve vehicle identification and security. They argue the transition is necessary to reclaim lost revenue and prevent the “recycling” of temporary plates.
The court previously ordered the DVLA to maintain the existing number plate system pending the determination of the case.
The High Court in Accra has adjourned the case to February 6, 2026, for further proceedings following the joinder of the new defendant.
