In a call for accountability across the country’s driver-licensing framework, President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Tuesday announced that the Government will publish the names of individuals who obtained practical driving certificates without ever passing the mandatory theoretical examination, unless they voluntarily surrender and restart the process within six weeks.

Addressing ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) during the Force’s Traditional Christmas Breakfast, the President said a comprehensive post-audit review, conducted jointly with the Commissioner of Police, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Ministry of Public Service, the Ministry of Government Efficiency and Implementation and the Ministry of Home Affairs, has uncovered wide-scale irregularities in the licensing system.

According to the Head of State, the deployment of technology has now made it possible to “triangulate” every step of the licensing chain, from theoretical testing to practical certification and finally to the issuance of licences by GRA.

That digitised trail, he said, has exposed discrepancies that can no longer be ignored.

“We can tell you all those who wrote the theoretical exam in class, and that is the only way to move forward with the practical exam. And we can tell you all those who got a practical certificate and then actually got a licence at GRA,” President Ali said.

“If you have 150 people passing a theory, but 400 people are getting their practical certification, something is wrong.”

The audit, now being concluded, identified individuals who were granted practical certificates despite never passing the theoretical exam, an outcome the President described as unacceptable and a direct threat to public safety.

“We have all the names of persons who got a practical paper but never passed the theoretical exam. We’re going to give those persons in the public domain six weeks to surrender themselves and go back through the process. After that, we’ll publish all the names in the newspaper, suspend the licence, and prosecute them. That is the only way we can remedy this prosecute all the parties involved,” he warned.

The President reaffirmed that technology is no longer optional but central to service delivery, auditability, and enforcement. He said that the comprehensive data, now, before the government leaves, will leave no room for manipulation or undocumented shortcuts.

“Technology is your aid, your friend, and that post-service delivery mechanism that allows us to redesign the entire system and add a remarkable layer of accountability,” he told the gathering, adding that the same triangulation has revealed mismatches on the GRA side between licences issued and the number of legitimate passes.

While acknowledging the significant progress made through modernisation, President Ali said areas of weakness must be confronted head-on.

“While there’s a lot to celebrate, technology has also allowed us tremendous improvement in identifying where the discrepancies are,” he stressed.

The government is expected to formally announce the amnesty and compliance conditions in the coming days, signalling a move to clean up the licensing ecosystem and reinforce public confidence in the nation’s road-safety framework.