The Chief Executive Officer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Julius Neequaye Kotey, has disclosed that approximately five per cent of vehicle number plates currently in circulation in Ghana are fake.
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Kotey described the situation as worrying and underscored the need to centralise the embossing of number plates under a single, authorised company to enhance security and protect motorists.
He explained that vehicle number plates are security documents and must not be produced without strict control.
“In terms of security, it will help the Ghanaian consumer. You don’t just allow anyone, anywhere to emboss number plates. That number plate you are embossing is a security document, so we need to be cautious and circumspect about who embosses number plates and for whom,” he stated.
According to Mr. Kotey, data from the DVLA shows that nearly five per cent of vehicles captured in the authority’s system are operating with fake number plates acquired through illegal means.
He revealed that in some cases, fraudsters take advantage of accident vehicles that are beyond repair by cloning their registration numbers and embossing duplicate plates for other vehicles.
To address the problem, the DVLA CEO said the authority is introducing new number plates embedded with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips, which will help detect cloned and fake plates.
“We’re going to do away with all this. Because there’s a cloning detector as part of the system. There are RFID billboards which will be mounted on various highways. Once a vehicle passes with a number plate that is not in our system, it sends a signal to our command centre,” Mr. Kotey explained.
