‘Erase all foreign symbols from imported cars in Ghana’– Lawyer drags DVLA to Supreme Court

A private legal practitioner is very concerned about the influx of foreign symbols embossed on cars imported into the country.

According to him, if allowed, these symbols have the propensity to trample on the prestige of the nation, and thus wants every car in Ghana to rather have the national symbols on them.

Supreme Court Correspondent Richard Osei Boateng reports, however, that the 7-member panel presided over by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo was not convinced by the plaintiff’s case and thus dismissed it.

This suit, by counsel, Ahuma Ocansey, came before the same court somewhere in 2023 but was dismissed, and the plaintiff was advised to resolve it administratively with the DVLA.

However, he once again invoked the original jurisdiction of the apex court, seeking their lordships to help him ‘preserve the conscience of the Ghanaian citizen.”

The plaintiff, upon inquiry, told the court that DVLA had refused to give him an audience and thus was allowed by the court to present his case.

Mr. Ocansey was not enthused about foreign symbols being allowed on cars being used in Ghana, which he argued was against Article 41 of the 1992 Constitution.

Clause 1 of the said Article states:

“The exercise and enjoyment of rights and freedoms is inseparable from the performance of duties and obligations, and accordingly, it shall be the duty of every citizen. a. to promote the prestige and good name of Ghana and respect the symbols of the nation.”

He emphasized that his suit is purely a matter of dealing with the conscience of Ghanaians and that the ordinary Ghanaian ought to be made to preserve the good name and the prestige of the country.

It was at this point that their Lordships wondered what would happen afterward with drivers who defied these orders or even decided to re-emboss those marks after DVLA had erased them.

On her part, Her Ladyship Mensa-Bonsu highlighted various marks and inscriptions written by drivers on their cars in Ghana, like Still, You can’t break me, They act as lovers, Still me, and others wondering whether the plaintiff would also want DVLA to move around erasing and removing them.

In their judgment, their Lordships noted that the plaintiff’s suit seeks to rather restrict and intrude into citizens’ enjoyment of private life and is thus untenable.

They added that every nation is in flux and things are changing; therefore, it is not possible for the plaintiff’s reliefs to be granted.

The Chief Justice thus described the suit as incompetent and mischievous and thus dismissed the same and awarded a cost of GHC 5,000 in favor of the DVLA against the plaintiff.

Other members of the panel were Pwamang, Mensa-Bonsu, Gaewu, Asiedu, Adjei-Frimpong, and Asare Darko JJSC.