By Sedi Bansah

Collins Dauda, Minister for Transport and Mr. Justice Amegashie, Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of the Driver and Licensing Authority (DVLA), have
finally sold out the DVLA to a gang of people belonging to the New Patriotic
Party (NPP).

Vehicle inspection now will be done by private garages, which in effect
means the state will be denied millions of cedis of internally -generated
revenue.

The Herald has gathered that Mr. Amegashie, on the orders of Collins Dauda,
has advertised in the media the commencement of private garages in vehicle
inspection by Messrs Bivac, Messrs Ben Sam, Messrs SPC and Messrs Vito.

It is held that the personalities behind these vehicle testing garages are
Dr. Richard Anane, former Minister of Road Transport, in the past NPP
government and Mr. Joe Osei Wusu, former CEO of the DVLA ,during the NPP
government.

As indicated in our earlier publications on this matter, The Herald’s
investigations point out that the DVLA, though reputed to be the third
largest revenue generator after Custom Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS)
and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)- the two that have become Ghana
Revenue Authority (GRA), has been under-resourced, and deliberately
projected to look like a non-performer by greedy politicians, to take over
its operations, and make money that would have gone into the government’s
kitty.

Parts of the adverts which are lies, and couched in a language that will
hoodwink Ghanaians into believing that private vehicle inspection is the
panacea to the spate of accidents on our roads, read as follows:

“Objects of the introduction of the scheme are to facilitate, promote and
ensure safety on the road as well as promoting environmental sustainability.

“These equipment (referring to the equipment at the garages) would give you
the status of the roadworthiness of your vehicle and, therefore, peace of
mind.

“The safety and environmental benefits in having your vehicle tested are
immeasurable and incalculable.
“The following are the benefits to be derived by both owners of the
vehicles, the community and the nation at large:
1. Improvement of road safety
2. Enhancement of environmental protection.
3. Continued use of safer and more reliable vehicles.
4. Longer service life for the vehicle.
5. Reduction in fuel consumption
6. Reduction in air pollution and noise pollution.
7. Employment opportunities for citizens within the community where the
vehicle testing Station is located, as the

Testing Facility and Repair garages employ, undertake and provide separate
activities and services”

It has been established and confirmed to The Herald by Mr. George Ackom,
Director of Vehicle Inspection at DVLA, that the greatest cause of accidents
on our roads is due to drivers attitude of not observing road signs, over
-speeding and parking on the roads without warning signs and at wrong
places.

“If it had been the faulty nature of vehicles that cause accidents on our
roads, then what would one say about accidents that happen in presidential
convoys?, a worker at the DVLA asked.

“If private vehicle inspection would guarantee the road worthiness of the
vehicles that ply our roads, how vehicle worthy are our roads,?” another
worker asked.

Even in cases that equipment were procured for the DVLA, they were either
obsolete or non-functional.

A typical case is the performance of Mr. Joe Osei Wusu, who during his
tenure as the CEO of the DVLA, procured obsolete and non-functional break
and shock testers that are lying waste at the DVLA in Accra.

Climb lifts, the alternative to pits, have been bought, irrespective of the
fact that all the ten regions in the country have pits, and would not need
them immediately.

As confirmed by Osei Wusu himself, some of these climb lifts have come
without some parts that will render them useful. And so for this reason,
they are being left in the open at the mercy of the weather, leading to
deterioration.

Lamp-testers that have been procured by Osei Wusu have been packed, not
being used, and a company called S Class, apparently fronting for Osei Wusu,
deployed throughout the ten regions, is impudently operating on the premises
of the DVLA.

In Accra alone, S Class conducts lamp tests on not less than 600 vehicles a
day.

“And, if for instance, the charge is GH¢ 2.00 per vehicle, one can imagine
how much that can yield to government but which is going into individual’s
pocket,” a worker at DVLA observed.

Readers will soon be provided with damning audit reports on the operations
of the S Class company. And this will give an insight to readers on the
so-called claims that the private garages will be paying commission to
government, on their operations.

About the private garages generating employment and reducing noise and air
pollution, a policy to expand the DVLA and equip it with vehicle-testing
machines, would still create employment for people in the localities that
these garages may be sited, as well as reducing noise and air pollution, and
all the other accompanying benefits the advertisement talks about.

The Herald has found out that Accra and Tema alone register not less than
70,000 cars annually, which explains why any greedy and scheming politician
would want to hide behind ACT 569, which enjoins DVLA to register and
regulate private garages, to do vehicle inspection, to make money for
himself and his cronies at the expense of the state.

The Herald has always maintained that the makers of ACT 569, ostensibly,
intended it to come to the aid of the DVLA, by engaging private garages when
it (DVLA) cannot cope with the work load.

Unfortunately, self-seeking politicians like Dr. Richard Anane, Member of
Parliament (MP) for Nhyiaeso, Osei Wusu, MP for Bekwai and Collins Dauda are
exploiting ACT 569 to serve their money- making dreams.

It is interesting to note that Collins Dauda, after assuming office as the
Minister for Transport, did not visit even the Greater Accra DVLA to
acquaint himself with the situation there, but rather made a dash to the
private garages to pass them off as ready for vehicle inspection.

“What could this flagrant exhibition of interest mean,?” a worker at the
DVLA posited.

Even when The Herald complained about expensive equipment like climb lifts
that have been abandoned in the open at the mercy of the weather, the greedy
minister, known for his attitude of not bothering about the state of
national assets, did not make any effort to address the situation.

We have called on Mr. Dauda in our previous publications, on this matter, to
call a durbar of DVLA workers, devoid of any attempt at victmisation, and
listen to what the workers will say on privatization of vehicle inspection.
But predictably he has not done so.

As the Minister of Lands, Forestry and Natural Resources, Collins Dauda
failed to act on reports that Lebanese were exploiting the country’s timber
resources at an unacceptable rate, because he himself is reported to own
chainsaws and hired operators who inflict the same degradation on our forest
reserves.