Free movement in the facilitation of trade, industry - An experience
Borders serve a practical purpose in controlling the flow of goods and people that enter and exit a nation. They allow countries to have security and exercise control over economic activities and other activities that can compromise the security of a nation.
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The important role of borders in the trade facilitation chain cannot be underestimated as they serve as conduits for promoting trade between countries.
For countries to effectively trade among themselves and further contribute to the growth of economies in their individual countries, a framework for the movement of goods and people became necessary and led to the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) several years ago to aid the promotion of free trade within the West African sub region.
Free movement?
One may however, ask whether those protocols as they exist on paper are actually reflective of what persists on the ground?
On Sunday, July 23, 2017, I embarked on a journey by road to Cotonou in the Republic of Benin via Togo to participate in the just-ended Single Window and Port Community Systems Seminar organised by the Ports Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA).
While the road network was generally good, making the travel very smooth, security checks at the borders between Ghana, Togo and Benin came with their accompanying challenges.
Moving across the borders required going through several security checks and also the stamping of one’s passport to serve as a visa for transiting through countries to one’s destination.
Extortion
A passenger’s inability to produce a yellow vaccination card in addition to a national voter’s identity card or passport opened up room for the officials at the Togo and Benin borders to demand the payment of fees ranging between CFA1,500 and CFA 3,000 (GH¢11- GH¢23).
The inability of the travellers to speak French also compounded the woes of many who were bullied and threatened by immigration and other security operatives at the Togo border. The travellers were angered by the demand for official receipts to cover such payments Regular travellers, who were conversant with such unwritten rules, easily dropped CFA1,000 (GH¢8) in the hands of the officials and were allowed easy passage.
Travellers in a queue at the Hillaconji border to process their documentation to cross over to the Togo border
Travellers who demanded official receipts were handed immigration forms to complete before they were allowed passage although Togo was not their final destination.
Challenging any of these decisions meant that one’s passport would be confiscated for hours so as to delay the journey.
The story was not different with transit trucks loaded with goods from Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana travelling to Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
A situation, the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Shippers Authority, Ms Benonita Bismarck, said could lead to mislabelling, misclassification and undervaluation of cargo, so as to facilitate formal entry declaration processes.
Transit trade
The demand for increased and competitive trade among countries has also seen labour requirements increasing as governments and business people strategise to benefit from the global trade chain.
Import and export trade among countries are said to be on the rise leading to an increase in the movement of transit cargo among countries across the borders in the principle of cross-border trade.
However, good border management practices could not be said to be reflective on the ground in the promotion of free trade among countries.
While cooperation among countries exists beautifully on paper, coordination and integration seems to be a poor reflection on trade between countries, as goods in transit undergo various documentation processes at the various checkpoints and borders before arriving at their final destination.
Reports suggested that goods in transit often could spend between five to nine days transiting through third countries and could take over a period of four weeks to arrive at their final destination depending on how fast documentation was processed.
A transit driver who was transporting cosmetics products from Cote d’Ivoire to Togo, Mr
Watara Sumaila, sharing his frustrations, told the Daily Graphic Togo that he arrived at the border on Wednesday July 19, 2017 to process his documents since the products were meant for that country.
“I have been here for four days already, sleeping under the truck awaiting the approval of my documents for which the consignee’s agents had to take several days to secure the necessary permits to enable me to enter the country to discharge the products,” Mr Watara told this reporter, when he was interviewed on July 23, 2017 at the border.
Visible congestion was the norm at the border with numerous truck-loads of cargo parked haphazardly at various points, while the drivers were seen either sleeping on mats under their trucks or idling about while they awaited permit approvals to move to the next point.
Mr Watara pointed out that with the day being a Sunday and not a working day for government agencies in that country, he was expected to spend two or more days before he could discharge the products at the clearing point.
A Nigerien businessman and transporter, Alhaji Diaw Zabeiro, whose company transports various products via transit from Niger, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana to Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon also shared similar experiences when the Daily Graphic caught up with him in Cotonou.
He said businessmen and transporters seeking to move faster through borders in order to break even in profits had to pay several illegal fees to various officials along the numerous transit routes.
“The high corruption level at the borders has become a dominant effect and is gradually becoming a risk to transit trade,” Alhaji Zabeiro Shippers’ Authority.
The CEO of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Ms Benonita Bismarck,in an interview with the Daily Graphic, pointed out that the notion of free trade only existed on paper and that the political will of all countries was vital if the West African sub- region was to achieve the objective.
The movement of goods from Ghana-Togo and other neighbouring countries, she suggested, had to go through several processing points which went to increase shipping costs, thus making business among countries uncompetitive.
Having travelled via Togo to Benin, Ms Bismarck expressed worry about the unconventional means of deployment at the borders, which, she said, were impediments to intra-Africa trade.
“We are unable to get adequate statistics to support the level of trade that exists between us as a region since inflows are not being documented owing to the illegal fees component at the borders which often would see transistors also declaring lower volumes and values to facilitate the payment of the illegal fees,” she said.
“If cargo movement from a port to the next country could take several days and port clearance processes also comes with its associated bureaucracy and cumbersome procedures, what then are we achieving as a sub-region?, she queried.
Ms Bismarck also lamented the number of police checkpoints along various trade corridors in Ghana, saying, “we have noticed that there are at least, 40 check points between Tema and Paga, but what I have seen travelling from Ghana to Benin is far different from what exists in Ghana.”
Benin, she said, had been able to reduce the physical inspection stops from Togo to that country to only two, a situation she said, was commendable.
Ms Bismarck said the GSA had held discussions with the Inspector nGeneral of Police (IGP) and reached an agreement that the Transport and Interior ministers of the various countries ought to collaborate and ensure the removal of unwanted police checkpoints along Ghana’s various trade routes, just as the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was also doing with customs barriers.
Writer’s email: della.russel @graphic.com.gh