Julius Neequaye Kotey has headed Ghana’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority for a little over one year, but has already made a significant impact, digitizing the vehicle licensing system. Kotey says he envisions “a DVLA where everything is digitized.” He tells Africawatch he believes that will “improve efficiency, curb avoidable infractions, reduce revenue leakages, and support road-safety enforcement nationwide.”
Ghana has more than 4 million cars and trucks on the road, along with their drivers and owners, and they now have a new leader in Julius Neequaye Kotey. At 38 years old, he has been the CEO of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) for just over a year. His approach is making a significant impact, and his innovative strategies and commitment to addressing unethical practices in the industry are already yielding positive results.
When he took over after being appointed by President John Mahama in January 2025, he faced two colossal debts: one of US$200 million and another of GH¢300 million.
The debts could have rattled any new CEO, but not Kotey. “The dollar debt raised concerns, prompting me to refer the matter to the Attorney General and the finance ministry for further investigation,” he told Africawatch. “The cedi debt was validated, and I have struggled to pay it.”
Another significant issue, he said, involved the DP (Drive from Port) license plates, temporary plates issued for imported vehicles.
“I discovered 12 companies that were distributing DP plates on behalf of the DVLA. It raised questions about the appropriateness of private companies handling this distribution,” Kotey explained. “In some instances, these companies were engaging with agents at the ports without our knowledge, resulting in losses for the DVLA. Consequently, I made the decision to terminate the contracts with all 12 companies and remove them from the ports.”
As expected, the 12 companies did not take their removal kindly, but Kotey triumphed.
While they had their contracts, the 12 companies reported distributing 1,800 DP plates a month, but the Customs Division, smelling something fishy, insisted that the number of vehicles driven from the ports was significantly higher than the number reported.
This gave the DVLA the heavy boots to stamp down on the suspected discrepancies. Since taking over DP-plate distribution itself, the DVLA has been recording about 16,000 cars a month driven from the ports – more than eight times the number the 12 companies had been reporting. This has also improved its revenue, which has gone up by 39% since Kotey took office.
“We are currently transitioning from traditional aluminum (DP) number plates to secure, digital stickers that are trackable, linked to customs clearance, and designed to prevent the misuse of a single plate across multiple vehicles,” Kotey told Africawatch.
He has closed various other loopholes since coming into office, and he plans to reinvest part of the DVLA’s increased income into expanding operations.
“We are making efforts to establish a presence in every district, and as this poses financial challenges, we are partnering with private entities interested in opening offices with us under a public-private partnership arrangement,” Kotey told Africawatch. Called “ultra centers,” these new offices will greatly enhance the operations of the DVLA.
So far, 13 new offices, which include 24-hour service points, have been opened in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Volta, Ahafo, Savannah, Oti, Bono, and Eastern regions. The DVLA has also introduced mobile licensing units, SMS reminders, and skills-development programs to improve service delivery. It plans to expand 24-hour services to most regional stations.
Kotey’s administration is also collaborating with the State Insurance Company (SIC) and the National Identification Authority (NIA) to streamline services.
An automated vehicle-emissions testing system is also being implemented, along with enhanced vehicle-inspection protocols to address the issue of poorly maintained vehicles releasing pollutants into the atmosphere.
Another problem is that according to DVLA figures, approximately 5% of vehicle number plates currently in use in Ghana are counterfeit, acquired through various unlawful methods. The DVLA is therefore introducing new number plates with advanced Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology embedded in them, to “improve security, real-time verification and traceability.”
His background
Julius Neequaye Kotey was born in Accra on May 29, 1987. He has an impressive academic record, holding master’s degrees in arts, leadership and governance; public policy and management; and socio-logy of peace and security. He also has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and socio-logy, and a diploma in business management.
Kotey honed his craft working with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust as a compliance officer, and then holding a senior position at the DVLA between 2013 and 2016.
Last November, he was honored with an “outstanding leadership in Digital Transformation in Vehicle Licensing Across Africa” award at the fourth edition of the African Public Service Optimum Awards, held in Accra.
A citation accompanying the award recognized Kotey’s “exceptional efforts in modernizing and digitizing Ghana’s vehicle-licensing regime, and setting a benchmark for public-sector innovation across Africa.”
His vision
As one of the youngest chief executive officers in the DVLA’s history, Kotey wants to transform the agency into a “fully digital and corruption-free institution,” which will rely on modern technology and innovation to defeat the twin evils of inefficiency and human interference in financial transactions.
“I want the DVLA that you will be willing to work in,” he has said. “The DVLA that will use information and communication technology and innovation to solve most of the simple problems we have, especially to do away with the exchange of money with people. I want a DVLA where everything is computerized.”
He hopes this will “improve efficiency, curb avoidable infractions, reduce revenue leakages, and support road-safety enforcement nationwide.”
Since coming into office, Kotey has led the DVLA to do community outreach nationwide at lorry stations and other places, to explain the new regime for motorists and to bring licensing services directly to the public.
Kotey’s administration inherited a backlog of 440,000 unprocessed license applications. To deal with it, the DVLA introduced a 24-hour office in Accra, at Adenta, to centralize operations and accelerate the issuance of licenses. In a short time, the backlog was cleared.
The 24-hour services have also been introduced at the country’s two major ports, Tema and Takoradi. According to the DVLA, regional offices that are not able to sustain full 24-hour service are now doing two-shift systems.
In the future, Kotey says, Ghanaian drivers’ licenses will expire on the holder’s birthday. “The public should take note of this change. We are also extending this system to roadworthiness certification. So when it is time to renew your driver’s license and car roadworthiness, you will receive an SMS indicating the due date.” This should lead to prompt renewal, he hopes.
The new measures, Kotey explains, will “enhance tracking, reduce confusion over renewal timelines, and align the country’s licensing system with international best practices.”
The big deal
Kotey’s biggest innovation, however, has been the introduction of new license plates embedded with RFID chips. He wanted the new registration system to start in January, but two laws “needed to be amended to pave the way” to authorize it, he says. Parliament was able to amend the Road Traffic Act of 2004 (Act 683), but proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Regulations of 2012 (Legislative Instrument 2180) were not completed before it went on recess.
“This reform is not just about introducing a new number plate; it is about building a more secure, efficient, and technology- driven vehicle registration system that serves the national interest,” Kotey said. “Engaging stakeholders early allows us to address concerns, clarify processes, and ensure collective ownership of this important transition.”
Meanwhile, the DVLA is now re-registering all the 4 million vehicles in the country. The re-registration will be rolled out over two years. Government and unregistered vehicles will be in the first phase, while all vehicles registered under the old system will be in the second.
The re-registration involves moving the vehicles’ manually entered data to a digital platform, at no cost to the owners. Owners, however, will pay a GH¢25 fee for the verification of their biodata, after which they will be issued a new title certificate and an electronic registration card.
According to Prosper Kafui Semevo, the DVLA’s director of driver training, testing, and licensing, the purpose of digitizing registration data is to verify the ownership of manually registered vehicles and to weed out vehicles that dodge customs duties.
Semevo said owners of vehicles who do not convert their registration data to digital would not be able to register their vehicles under the RFID system.
Points system
Another major innovation of Kotey’s administration is the introduction of a point-management system to deter bad driving and recklessness on the roads.
The system already exists in major countries around the world. In the UK, drivers are given 12 points on their licenses, and points are deducted for traffic offenses, such as three for speeding and up to 11 for drunk driving. If the points are exhausted, the offending drivers are banned from driving for a set period. In New York State in the U.S., points are added if drivers are convicted of certain offenses, and if they get 10 or more points within 18 months, their licenses may be suspended.
In Ghana, Kotey’s administration wants such drivers to be sent back to driving school. “We all complain about the bad nature of our road network. But what about the human factor?” Kotey said in September last year. “If you happen to drive recklessly, we will deduct some points from your overall score. If your point finishes, then we take you back to the driving school.”
“We need to check drivers on the streets, and for that we have also mechanized the compliance system to make it more efficient and effective. Now every regional office has 10 compliance officers,” he disclosed.
In just over a year, Kotey has demonstrated his value and validated the confidence that President John Mahama had in him at the time of his appointment.
So far, Kotey is very pleased with the support provided by his committed team, the board led by George Spencer Quaye, and his sector head, Minister of Transport Joseph Bukari Nikpe.
“The minister has offered considerable backing for our initiatives,” Kotey told Africawatch. “Furthermore, I want to express my gratitude to President John Mahama for his leadership and guidance in assisting us in resetting our nation and advancing it.”