The Director of Driver Training, Testing and Licensing at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), says Ghana's laws do not permit individuals less than 25 years of age to drive commercial vehicles.

Speaking on the Super Morning Show (SMS) on JoyFM, Kafui Semevo said “If you look at regulation 37(1b) it reads, “a person is disqualified from holding or obtaining a license to drive a commercial vehicle if that person is under 25 years of age,”

His comment was in response to a question by a caller on SMS about his insurance company's refusal to pay his claims after the 24-year-old driver of his Kia truck was involved in an accident.

Mr Semovo explained that the current law restricts persons who are 25 years from driving commercial vehicles, hence before a vehicle owner employs someone, they must confirm their age and the class of license they possess.

“Now in engaging the driver, you must look at the class of license and the class of vehicle the person is going to drive to determine whether the class of license permits the person to drive that vehicle. The second thing, is the license valid, and then is the person of that age that permits the person to drive- in this case, for commercial vehicles, it is 25 years as of today,” he said.

Mr Semevo added that the 2012 law was probably enacted due to some observations made over the period however, he mentioned that the DVLA had noticed that this law has the potential to put a lot of young people out of jobs, and had therefore taken steps to push for an amendment.

“As of today, however, we are also noticing that with the ride-hailing companies, a lot more younger people engage in commercial driving activities, so If we take these people out, what will happen is that we are creating unemployment. So, again we have recommended an amendment of the law, and once the amendment comes the age will be varied,” he added.