…as scandal over contract inherited from NPP explodes
By Prince Ahenkorah
The head of Ghana’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority is defending a no-bid contract for the country’s vehicle license plates, saying the deal was already signed when his administration took office and that his agency has acted transparently.
But the company that has supplied embossment services for more than 30 years is suing, alleging the authority broke procurement laws, jeopardized thousands of jobs and engaged in an “abuse of administrative authority” to steer the work to a single, connected contractor.
The dispute, now before an Accra High Court, pits the DVLA against Bemenco Embossment Limited and centers on a contract for the manufacturing and embossing of number plates for 2026 and beyond. The case offers a window into how long-standing suppliers can be abruptly sidelined, even as officials describe their actions as routine administrative reform.
In a public statement, DVLA CEO Julius Neequaye Kotey said the contract with Dr. Nyarko Esumadu Appiah of Original Manufacturing and Embossment was “lawfully inherited,” having been signed on November 26, 2024, before the current leadership assumed office. He said the DVLA tried to be inclusive, even facilitating meetings between Appiah and another interested company, Vemag, to discuss technical collaboration on new RFID-integrated plates. He accused Vemag of a “campaign of misinformation.”
But according to Bemenco’s lawsuit, the reality for its network of over 46 companies and sole proprietors is starkly different. The company claims the DVLA’s move to award both the manufacturing and embossing of plates to a single contractor bypassing competitive tender violates Ghana’s Procurement Act of 2003.
More urgently, Bemenco alleges the DVLA has already cut off its members. In December 2025, the authority refused to allocate the blank plates these small businesses need to emboss, effectively halting their operations ahead of the planned January 2026 rollout of new digital plates.
“The defendant’s refusal to allocate blank registration plates for 2026 to the plaintiff’s members is unlawful, unfair, and without legal basis,” the writ states, warning the action threatens the livelihoods of about 3,000 workers and will cause “significant financial losses.”
The lawsuit paints a picture of a sudden, opaque shift in policy. Bemenco contends the DVLA failed to advertise for tenders and did not obtain the required single-source procurement approval from the Public Procurement Authority. The company is asking the court to declare the contract with Appiah “null, void and of no legal consequence” and to force the DVLA to continue working with its members.
The DVLA maintains it is acting within its rights. Kotey’s statement emphasizes that the contract was a pre-existing arrangement and that engaging other parties was a gesture of openness, not a legal requirement.
But procurement experts and governance advocates say the case highlights systemic concerns. “When a state authority circumvents competitive bidding and abruptly ends a decades-long commercial relationship with numerous small businesses, it raises fundamental questions about fairness, due process, and the real beneficiaries of the contract,” said Kwame Asante, a public procurement analyst in Accra who is not involved in the case.
For now, the embossing workshops linked to Bemenco sit idle, their workers in limbo. The High Court has yet to hear the case, leaving the future of the country’s license plate supply and the thousands who depend on it hanging on a judicial decision and the DVLA’s defense of a contract it says it simply inherited.