By King Amoah
The Association of Certified Driving Instructors of Ghana (ASSODRIVE) a professional body for driver trainers in Ghana says the outfit has noted with with grave concern the comments in the media that linked the Chief Executive officer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) Mr. Julius Neequaye Kotey to have stated that the private driving schools are not training drivers to the Authority’s satisfaction as the situation has triggered move for the establishment of a new skills development centers.
The Association noted that if the CEO had been misquoted by the media he would have by now reacted to exonerate himself from blame.
The outfit said the CEO’s continuous silence about the negative media reports against the Association directly continue to dents the professional image of the Certified Driving Instructors and leaves them with no choice but to conclude that the DVLA boss still stands by his false allegations.
Speaking to the Correspondent in an interview on behalf of the Association,the Vice President of the outfit Mr Isaac Obour denied the allegations made by the DVLA bosss against the Association.
He said the Associon works directly under the instructions of the DVLA and that if there is something going contrary to the duties of the Instructors a me meeting should be organized for solution stressing that I’m the case of the DVLA Director this step was treated with contempt whilst resorting to media engagement.
On the basis of this action what hence the Assumption demands retraction and apologies from the DVLA bosss.
The Association as a law abiding set up Mr Obour said its members are fully ready to meet Mr Julius Kotey forr any deliberations that could promote the transport sector.
The instructions also expressed disappointment about the silence of the Ghana National Association of Driving Schools (GHANADRIVE) which is the umbrella body of driving schools who despite the efforts of the Assassination of Certified Driving Instructors to maintain the sector’s reputation, pretends as if nothing is happening.
Mr Isaac Obour asked both the DVLA and GHANADRIVE to note the following facts and laws guarding the profession as listed elsewhere in this publication
1. That the DVLA is not a driving schools or instructors, but it is responsible for licensing drivers in Ghana.
Under section 3(1)(d) of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority Act, 1999 (Act 569), it is the DVLA that issues driving licenses. Instructors teach; DVLA alone tests and certifies fitness to drive by issuing the license. If a licensed driver later proves unsatisfactory, that outcome passes through the DVLA’s own testing and licensing gate under section 3(1)(d), a gate that no driving school or instructor controls.
2. Standards, syllabus, and certification are the DVLA’s own instruments. Section 3(1) of Act 569 mandates the DVLA to establish standards and methods for the training and testing of driving instructors and drivers—Section 3(1)(a) provides the syllabi for driver training and the training of instructors—section 3(1)(c) and license driving instructors—section 3(1)(f). Every ASSODRIVE member is a certified instructor trained and licensed by DVLA and NVTI, and bound by our Constitution to teach strictly within DVLA’s own syllabus. If graduates fall short, the fault traces back to the standards, syllabi and certification process that DVLA itself designs, issues and administers under sections 3(1)(a)–(c) and 262
3. Section 3(1)(m) of Act 569 places supervisory responsibility squarely on DVLA. The Authority is legally charged to “ensure strict compliance with this Act and the Regulations.” So, a public verdict against instructors and schools, issued without prior engagement with us, reads more as
an admission of the DVLA’s own supervisory gap than a fair assessment of our professionalism.
4. The law requires collaboration, not unilateral pronouncements. The Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1153) repeatedly requires the Licensing Authority to”collaborate”” with other bodies with relevant knowledge and expertise in road safety when developing standards (amended sections 13, 15, 16, and 17 of Act 683). ASSODRIVE, as the certified instructors’ representative body, is precisely one of such stakeholders, and section 3(1)(l) of Act 569 requires DVLA to be advised on policy formulation by bodies such as ours. So, a parallel skills center and a public indictment of our profession, both announced without consulting us, depart from this statutory model.
ASSODRIVE proposes that the DVLADVLA lead the development of a single national digital platform tracking every learner from first payment to license: online fee payment, booking of a licensed school and DVLA-certified instructor, logged training hours and lesson content, scheduling of the DVLA test, the identity of the testing officer, and the test outcome, all tied to one applicant record.
Such a platform would Vice President Isaac Obour noted would give DVLA live and nationwide data to identify exactly where any training or testing gap truly lies and hold every actor, school, instructor, and DVLA’s own testing officers accountable. individually accountable, and replace unverified public statements with evidence.
ASSODRIVE further calls on the DVLA CEO to either substantiate his comments with data or publicly correct the record, and on GHANADRIVE to break its silence and state its position. We remain, as always, ready to engage DVLA on curriculum review, refresher training, joint audits and the digital platform proposed above.
Attached is Mr Isaac Obour image.
