The DVLA’s planned rollout of digital vehicle number plates has faced a courtroom challenge from the Vehicle Embossment Association of Ghana (VEMAG). Today, the Accra High Court heard the association’s injunction, which alleges that the process bypasses local embossers and may breach public procurement laws.
According to filings by BEMENCO Embossment Ltd and 26 other plaintiffs, all members of VEMAG, the DVLA’s new approach effectively consolidates both the manufacturing and embossment of vehicle number plates under a single entity, Original Manufacturing and Embossment, owned by Nyarko Esumadu Appiah (Daasebre), which they argue departs from decades‑long practice and established business arrangements.
VEMAG asserts that for over 30 years, licensed local embossers have operated under a predictable commercial framework with the DVLA, acquiring specialised machinery and investing heavily to meet regulatory embossing specifications. The sudden shift, they say, threatens the livelihoods of more than 3,000 Ghanaian workers employed across member firms and undermines competition in the number plate production industry.
At the heart of VEMAG’s business‑focused legal challenge is the procurement process employed by the DVLA. The association claims the Authority did not advertise tenders, as required by the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), did not obtain necessary approvals from the Public Procurement Authority, and sole-sourced the contract without transparent competition. These actions, VEMAG alleges, not only breach Ghana’s public procurement obligations but also ignore existing contractual rights granted to licensed embossers.
From a business perspective, the dispute underscores broader concerns about policy predictability, local industry protection, and the cost of compliance. Member companies invested between GH¢70,000 and GH¢1 million per specialised embossing machine, an upfront capital cost justified by their long-standing contractual engagement with the DVLA.
VEMAG warns that the shift could disrupt vehicle registration processes at the outset of the year, potentially impacting transport operators, vehicle dealers, and ancillary services that depend on efficient registration and number plate supply. Employment instability and reduced local business participation are expected knock-on effects if the current approach proceeds without adjustment.
In a statement captured by MyJoyOnline, DVLA Chief Executive Julius Neequaye Kotey pushed back against the injunction, emphasising that the contract award followed due process and that the winning contractor was open to collaboration with existing players.
“The one who won the contract is saying that he is willing to welcome the people coming to the IFRD, and those who never won the contract have rather gone to court… We will meet them in court,” Kotey said, signalling the Authority’s readiness to defend its policy in legal and public domains.
