Traveling in West Africa

Flying from Accra to Ouaga costs quite a lot but there is rare harassment during the journey. The same cannot be said of traveling by road. Truckers go through a lot of hindrances before they and the goods they carry reach their destination. Here is an insight on the situation.

A World Bank study found that West Africa has the highest costs of transport in the world. This is due to several reasons, but one governance-related issue is the erection of illegal barriers by agents of authority, who collect bribes from drivers and threaten them with delays if they refuse to pay. The worse cases of corruption happen at ports and international borders.



It is also important to note that some drivers and other transport actors offer bribes to police, customs and other officials. This way, they avoid complying to the rules. Some overload their trucks, do not travel with the required documents, do not have insurance or vehicle worthiness certificate. Most truckers are illiterate so they do not even know what papers they need.

The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU/Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest-Africaine) (http://www.uemoa.int/Index.htm) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (http://www.ecowas.int/) devised a strategy to tackle the problem with the support of USAID and the World Bank. The West Africa Trade Hub brings technical expertise to the two institutions and the countries engaged in the initiative.

Working with international institutions

I'm back in Ouaga, from 3 to 10 July, to assist organize a conference at the UEMOA Commission. We are expecting 150 participants from all the eight countries in the WAEMU, as well as Ghana, which only belongs to ECOWAS. ECOWAS has 15 member countries.

This meeting is aimed at publishing the first results of the road transport information system called Observatoire des Pratiques Anormales in French and Improved Road Transport Governance in English. This system collects data on bribes and delays occurring along major trucking routes. In the pilot phase, the three corridors defined by WAEMU and ECOWAS and studied are Tema-Ouagadougou, Lomé-Ouaga and Ouaga-Bamako. That is why I get to travel outside Ghana and go on mission in Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo. The system could extend to the Cotonou-Niamey corridor (in Benin and Niger respectively) by 2008.

As you will see, drivers play a central role in collecting the data. Truckers record the number of stops, amounts paid and durations of delays for each travel. Given that some drivers are involved in corruption and in order to avoid wrong data, investigators are sent to check if the information given by drivers reflect the real situation. Focal points distribute forms to them in each country and receive the completed sheets in the country of destination. Then the questionnaires are analysed to give tables, graphs and quarterly reports, describing the situation and its evolution over time and allowing for comparison between corridors and countries. The results also reveal who from the police, customs and other officials ask for bribes the most.