DVLA boss explains how new number plates will expose fake registrations, track vehicle details and other key features

Nii Ayitey Brown 18:19 - 09 August 2026

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Chief Executive of the DVLA, Julius Neequaye Kotey

DVLA CEO Julius Neequaye Kotey has revealed key features of Ghana’s new vehicle number plates, including NFC technology, hidden RFID security, biennial registration and new location codes.

New number plates will feature NFC and hidden RFID technology, allowing authorised officials to access detailed vehicle and ownership information.
The registration year will be removed from the plates, with new letter codes instead identifying where a vehicle was registered.
The DVLA is expected to pilot the new system from mid-August to December 2026, according to CEO Julius Neequaye Kotey.

Ghana’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is preparing to pilot a new vehicle number plate system featuring technology designed to make registration more secure and make it harder for criminals, ‘goro boys’ to clone or fake plates.

DVLA Chief Executive Officer Julius Neequaye Kotey, speaking in an interview with Pulse Ghana, said the new plates will contain several security features, including biennial registration, an ISO-standard country identification, the Ghana flag and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

Kotey said the new system will allow the DVLA to verify vehicles every two years while giving authorised officials access to information that cannot be seen by simply looking at the plate.

“So the new feature will have the biennial registration which will help us to verify the number of cars in the system every 2 years. It will also have the ISO specified name of the country with our Ghana flag and then it will also have the NFC,” he said.

He explained that the NFC technology will allow information stored on the vehicle's registration record to be accessed electronically.

Using a mobile phone or compatible device, basic information about a vehicle can be retrieved, he explained, while authorised experts will be able to access more detailed information after scanning the embedded technology.

“So just like you have a phone, you go close to it and it tells you the car type it is which you can see with your eye, the colour, the number plate but when an expert who has been mandated by law by the public data protection agency comes to scan he or she will see beyond that,” he said.

According to Kotey, the deeper information will include details of the person who imported and registered the vehicle, as well as the National Identification Authority (NIA) information linked to the owner.

The DVLA boss also noted that the technology has also been designed to make it difficult for people to reproduce or manipulate the plates.

“It will be very difficult for you to emulate or to fake because you will not even know where the RFID is,” he said.

He explained that the embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) component will not be physically obvious on the plate.

“You will not feel it by touching it because there won't be any bump over there for you to touch to know,” he said.

The introduction of embedded technology comes as the DVLA continues efforts to tackle fraudulent vehicle registration and counterfeit number plates.

Beyond the digital identification technology, Kotey said the new plates will also contain a visual security feature that becomes visible when light is directed at them.

“There is a security light we have when you look at or put it on the number plate. The number plate gives you colours like disco lights, it blinks on and off,” he said.

Kotey described the feature as a technology that, according to him, has not previously been implemented in this form elsewhere.

“It is one technology in the world no one has been able to implement,” he said.

Why the year on the plate is being removed

Another major change will be the removal of the year of registration from the number plate. Kotey said this change is partly aimed at removing an incentive that has encouraged some motorists to delay vehicle registration.

“Because, you know why people do not register their cars? Because of the year of registration. And now there is no more year of registration,” he said.

Instead of the current year-based format, the new plates will use the vehicle number together with algorithm-generated letters and registration-location codes.

“It's just the car number and then the algorithm numbers,” Kotey explained.

According to him, the two-letter codes will serve different purposes, with one identifying the location where the vehicle was registered and another helping to generate additional combinations.

“The algorithm numbers are two. One is the actual location of the registration. Their code. The code of the location. And the other one are just alphabets to help us generate more numbers,” he said.

Using Navrongo as an example, Kotey said a vehicle registered there would carry a code identifying the registration location.

“So, assuming you register a car in Navrongo, you will see that at the settings you will see NV. The first two alphabets always represent where the plate was registered. The code of the station,” he explained.

The DVLA is now moving towards the pilot stage of the new system.

Kotey told Pulse Ghana that the pilot phase is expected to run from mid-August through December 2026, ahead of the wider re-registration exercise.

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