Re-registration of govt vehicles begins

The exercise is in response to a directive by President John Dramani Mahama that all state vehicles be re-registered to ensure a judicious application of government funds.

The first phase of the exercise started with the launch and would end on January 21, 2014. The Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation will take turns to register their vehicles during the first phase.

Overall, 15,000 vehicles are expected to be registered at an estimated cost of GH¢1.5 million. There are, currently, 25 ministries and 10 regional co-ordinating councils.

The re-registration exercise, which would be carried out in all offices of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) across the country, would cover vehicles belonging to the ministries, departments, agencies (whether on government budget subvention or not), regional co-ordinating councils, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.

The re-registration has become necessary following what critics describe as gross abuse of state vehicles, particularly at weekends for events including funerals and weddings.

Process

The process involves all the vehicles having their number plates changed into one with a green background, a GV prefix, the year of registration, a code identifying the ministry, department or agency that the vehicle belongs to or a code identifying the regional co-ordinating councils, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies(MMDAs) to which the vehicle belongs.

In all, there are 34 codes for all the ministries and regional co-ordinating councils. Further, every metropolitan, municipal and district assembly, department and agencies under the various ministries also have special codes for easy identification.

Transport Minister 

At a press briefing about the initiative in Accra yesterday, Transport Minister, Mrs Dzifa Ativor, dismissed suggestions by a section of the media that the process was a means for government officials to siphon state funds.

She explained that the exercise was to ensure that state resources were used judiciously, stressing that: “taxes are used for the purchasing of the vehicles. We will capture all vehicles. No matter where the car is in the country, it will be captured as long as it’s a state property.”

Mrs Ativor said all broken down vehicles would be captured in the collation of data on government vehicles, while efforts were being made to put the codes of the various ministries, departments and agencies online, for easy access by the public.

Mr Vincent Kuabgenu, Co-ordinator of the Government Vehicle Re-registration Project, at the Office of the President, said the initiative was in response to public concerns on the use of government vehicles.

He, therefore, called for public participation and support in monitoring the use of government vehicles to ensure that the objective of the initiative was attained. 

“This project would help cut cost. A lot of thievery and unaccounted public resources are reported in the Auditor General’s report each year. We will employ all means possible to sustain the use of the new numbering systems and codes,” he said.

Mr Rudolph Beckley, the Chief Executive Officer of the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA), said five out of the 25 ministries would be captured in the first phase while the project was being rolled out until May 2014.