Kwesi Agyeman Busia
There are major changes at the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA); one of which is the possibility of licence applicants obtaining the permit within 30 minutes upon completing the processes.
The nightmare which characterized license acquisition has now been replaced by a highly business-like template in a DVLA now completely weaned off the apron-string of government for survival.
In an exclusive interview with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DVLA, Kwesi Agyeman Busia on Monday, he explained that licence acquisition has now been categorized into three: the first being the premium. As to what informed the segmentation, he said ‘while some persons demand the permit within a very short time and therefore ready to pay a little more and others can afford to wait a little longer, we came up with this template. Under the prestige category, applicants can obtain the licence within 30 minutes after completing the field test. This is done at the DVLA headquarters. Applicants seeking their licences under this category must be ready to pay a little more than the others, he dropped a caveat.
Under the premium category, he went on, ‘applicants obtain their drivers licences within two weeks after completing the necessary processes among them the field test.’
The regular category is designed to have applicants pick their licences under a month from the DVLA, he said.
The impetus for the expedited processing of drivers’ licences, he said, is the print farm established at the DVLA.  The printing of the licences, he said, is done within the DVLA – no longer through a third party – a development which has gone a long way in speeding up the process and hauling in more money to the kitty of the DVLA.
There is a massive reduction in human interface at the DVLA, a development he said, has reduced to the barest minimum the worrying phenomenon of middlemen in the processes.
‘We have short-circuited the processes and this alongside other innovations, have increased the revenue of the authority,’ he stated.
The DVLA is friendly to non-reading members of the public because, as he put it, ‘special audio facilities have been introduced to enable such persons to undergo the necessary tests to determine their suitability or otherwise for the licence. The number of road signs used to test such persons has been reduced as part of measures to take care of the peculiar needs of this category of persons.
The Call Centre innovation which Mr. Busia announced is intended to enable customers with queries to lodge these here for the necessary actions to be taken. ‘This centre is manned by five persons at any given time,’ he said.
Outside Accra ‘the DVLA has right-sized the offices; cases in point being Koforidua, Tamale, Cape Coast and Takoradi. ‘These are purpose built offices to serve our needs,’ he indicated.
An enforcement unit is operative and with the support of the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department it enforces DVLA regulations as established by law.
A mobile service is another innovation by which DVLA services are directed at locations upon demand, he said. ‘Where there are more than twenty persons requiring our services we move the mobile team there to deliver’ he said.
A digitized system now operational at DVLA, he announced, has enabled the capturing of important details – digitally retrieval of which is efficiently done.
The Human Resource department has been fired up to deliver on a special mandate of ensuring the welfare of personnel so they would deliver efficiently.  ‘Personnel are given targets to accomplish and these are evaluated’ he said.
By A.R. Gomda