BY Issah Olegor
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is facing growing scrutiny over its escalating charges for the renewal or replacement of expired driver’s licenses, with public policy think tank CUTS International, Accra, demanding an immediate suspension of the fees and a review of their legal basis.
CUTS argues that the DVLA cannot automatically assume that every holder whose driver’s licence has expired continued to drive during the period of expiry and should therefore be subjected to progressively higher charges.
In a press statement issued in Accra on Sunday, August 9, 2026, the think tank called on the DVLA to disclose the precise legal provision, approval process and formula used to determine what it describes as “delinquency” charges imposed on motorists who seek to regularise their licences after expiry.
The controversy centres on the DVLA’s 2026 Summary of Licensing and Other Activity Rates. Under the schedule, renewal of a driver’s licence before its expiry attracts a standard charge of GH¢127.
However, motorists who renew after expiry face escalating charges depending on how long the licence has remained expired.
A licence expired for between one day and six months attracts GH¢204.25, while the charge increases to GH¢279.25 for expiry periods of seven to 12 months. The amount rises further to GH¢315.25 for periods of up to two years, GH¢352.25 for up to four years and GH¢404.25 for licences that have been expired for more than four years. Similar escalating charges apply to replacement of expired licences.
CUTS says the automatic nature of the charges raises fundamental questions about whether they constitute legitimate renewal fees, administrative penalties or another form of statutory charge.
The organisation’s Director of the West Africa Regional Centre, Appiah Kusi Adomako, said the DVLA must demonstrate the legal authority behind every amount collected from motorists.
“The DVLA must show Ghanaians the law, the approved fee schedule and the formula behind every cedi it collects as a delinquency charge,” he said, insisting that public institutions must exercise their powers strictly within the law.
The think tank’s argument is based partly on Regulation 46 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519), which expressly makes provision for renewal of driver’s licences after their expiry.
According to CUTS, Regulation 46(1) states that a driver’s licence “may” be renewed within one month before expiry, while Regulation 46(2) deals with late renewal.
Under that provision, a late renewal takes effect from the original expiry date unless the Authority, for good cause shown, permits the renewal to take effect from the actual date of renewal.
CUTS further points to Regulation 46(8), which makes failure to renew a driver’s licence as prescribed an offence punishable, upon summary conviction, by a fine of between five and 25 penalty units, imprisonment of up to 30 days, or both.
The organisation argues that this provision raises an important distinction between allowing a licence to expire and actually driving on a public road without a valid licence.
According to CUTS, enforcement against a person who drives without a valid licence should be based on evidence of the offence rather than an assumption arising solely from the expiry date printed on the licence.
The think tank therefore questions whether the DVLA can impose an automatic escalating charge on someone who appears at its offices to renew an expired licence without first establishing that the person drove during the period in which the licence was invalid.
CUTS insists that it is not advocating for motorists to drive with expired licences. Rather, it wants the regulatory system to distinguish between an expired document and the separate offence of driving without a valid licence.
