PAC Chair Asare Grills DVLA Boss Kotey Over Digital Plates: ‘Are You Not the DVLA Boss?’ – Names on Plates?
A heated exchange unfolded during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting on Monday when Chairperson Abena Osei-Asare sharply questioned Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) Chief Executive Julius Neequaye Kotey on the security risks of digitizing personal data on proposed new number plates, culminating in a pointed retort: “Are you not the DVLA boss?”
The confrontation arose amid scrutiny of DVLA’s 2026 vehicle registration reforms, which introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips for enhanced security and tamper-proofing.
Kotey explained the system would digitize “existing information without altering the basic format,” but evaded specifics on displaying owners’ surnames, replying, “It depends on what the law says; we’ll go by it.”
Asare fired back, “You don’t tell me it depends on what the law says. You are doing it. So you should be able to tell us that the law says ABCD. I’m asking a specific question: is it going to have the user’s surname on the number plate?”
Kotey clarified that “we don’t put names on number plates,” prompting Asare to challenge him on existing personalized plates where owners pay extra for names. “People pay to have their names on number plates, and you sit here as the DVLA boss to tell me you don’t put names on number plates? That’s not accurate,” she retorted. Kotey withdrew the remark, noting regular plates exclude names unless customized.
The PAC chair expressed concerns over privacy, warning that exposing personal data could enable “bad people” to exploit it under Ghana’s Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843). Kotey assured compliance, emphasizing the RFID upgrade aims to prevent replication and abuse of temporary plates like “DV” stickers, often misused for unregistered vehicles.
The reforms, set for January 1, 2026, scrap year-of-registration displays (e.g., “25” for 2025), replacing them with regional identifiers (e.g., “Greater Accra”) and zonal codes (e.g., “GR 222 AD” for Adenta), alongside a unique four-digit number.
Kotey, during an August Channel One interview, highlighted the modernization to curb fraud, with “DP” stickers for port imports and pricier “DV” for delayed registrations.
Asare, emphasizing public interest, accepted Kotey’s withdrawal but stressed transparency: “The Committee’s questions are driven by public interest.”
The PAC, reviewing 2024 Auditor-General reports on GH¢1.2 billion in irregularities, continues probing DVLA’s GH¢42 million AFIS deal and other expenditures.
