ECOWAS commends Ghana for reducing border bribes

Ghana has received international commendation for reducing bribery and corruption at the borders with its West African neighbours.

The commendation was captured in the ECOWAS backed 21st Road Governance Report.

The report ranks Ghana as the country with the lowest bribery cases in the sub-region but indicts it for making slow progress in eliminating harassment at the border post at Paga.

The report represents information on checkpoints, bribes and delays based on data collected between July and September, 2013.

On bribes, the Mali-Burkina Faso border tops the list of borders where high bribes are paid with as much as US$25 per 100 kilometre.

Travelers using Ghana’s border post at Paga with Burkina Faso pay the least bribe, less than US$2 on average per truck.

In terms of delays, the Tema-Ouagadougou corridor maintained the tag of long delays with more than eight hours per trip.

The report also sites harassments at Ghana’s Paga border post and calls for more action to check it.

Overall across the sub-region, the report observed an increase in the number of controls up to 2%, illicit payments by 3% and delays by 15%.

It challenges governments to show more political will to reduce the many barriers to trading in the ECOWAS region.