General News of Thursday, 5 November 2015

Source: classfmonline.com

Parliament to summon DVLA officials over contract anomaly

Parliamentary of Ghana Parliamentary of Ghana

Information reaching classfmonline.com indicates that Parliament will invite the management of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to answer questions relating to a contract the state agency signed with Foto-X.

The contract, which was inked to pave the way for the production of drivers’ licenses has resulted in huge overpayments to Foto-X.

Chairman of the Transport Committee of Parliament, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, has expressed surprise at the latest revelations and has indicated moves to investigate the matter.

Mr Chaie told Joy FM that: “The issue is of interest to us, we are not into direct management, but we oversee what they do and it will be difficult to be able to unearth some of these malpractices within the institution. We are programmed to meet DVLA and the issues will be brought to the fore.”

He added that the Committee has received reports about delays in the printing of drivers’ licenses and will seek to get to the bottom of that matter too.

“We also have issues about ID cards kept for a long time. We were given certain information, but what we are hearing now is a contradiction so there is a need to meet the DVLA executives to resolve the issue,” he reiterated.

In a related development, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has submitted a docket to the Attorney General’s Department for legal advice on investigations it has conducted on the activities of the DVLA.

EOCO said former DVLA boss, Justice Amegashie, under whose tenure the deal was signed could be held for gross negligence, which has resulted in the current chaos.

EOCO is demanding a refund of monies paid to Foto-X and has accused the company of fraudulently changing the figures within the second contract it signed with DVLA in 2012. A $6-million disparity within the contact has raised eyebrows, which has brought the execution of the contract to a halt.

But C.E.O of Foto – X, Mr. Ian Kluvitse has refuted claims by EOCO and insists that Foto – X has done nothing wrong.