Takoradi, May 25, GNA 97 The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has issued 19,818 biometric driver's licenses in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis since its inception in 2008.

The Western Regional Licensing Officer of the DVLA, Mr Godson Wemegah, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Takoradi on Tuesday. The Regional Licensing Officer said the biometric license is intended to check unscrupulous people from selling fake licenses to unsuspecting drivers as well as standardizing the registration of drivers. Mr Wemegah stressed that the biometric registration had enabled the Authority to detect and stamp out fake licenses from the system. He said there were a number of drivers who did not know that their licenses were counterfeit until they came to the offices of the DVLA to replace them. "We have withdrawn and destroyed numerous counterfeit driver's licenses from the system and we hope to phase out the brown booklet type by 2014 and replace them with the PVC or the card type," he said. Mr. Wemegah, however, complained about inadequate office accommodation

and logistical constraints as major challenges slowing the biometric registration process in the region. The Regional Licensing Officer, therefore, appealed to the authorities concerned to intervene to complete the registration process on schedule. He advised both commercial and private drivers who want to secure licenses to go to the offices of the DVLA rather than middlemen who could present them with fake licenses.