Police reduce checkpoints to stem bribery

Tema, Aug. 7, 06, GNA -- The Ghana Police Service has effectively reduced the number of checkpoints on the Tema-Paga route as a measure to reduce delays and bribery from truck drivers plying the Tema-Ouagadougou route.

The number of police checkpoints on the route dropped from 14 in December 2007 to nine by June this year showing a 36 percent reduction. This was contained in the Improved Road Transport Governance (IRTG) Project report on a six-month survey on the West African trade corridors to measure the extent of delays and bribery caused by police, customs and military agents.

The report stated that, while the reduction represented one third decline in road harassment, there was eight percent decline in the total number of stops on the corridors over the six months of the study. Mr. Kossi Dahoui, Team Leader of IRTG, presenting the report to truck drivers from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali as well as other stakeholders in Tema on Wednesday stated that Mali recorded the highest level of bribery compared to the other countries on the corridor. He said throughout the 158 journey on the corridors during the period, the Project team recorded a 41 percent decrease in bribery in Mali, 39 percent in Togo and 24 percent in Ghana.

He explained that the Ouagadougou-Bamako route has the highest level of bribery with $95.17 per journey as the $68.35 value per journey of the Mali sub corridor exceeded the record of bribes collected for a country. The report stated that, while the Lome-Ouagadougou route, which shows a level of $52.63 has the lowest bribery incident, the Tema-Ouagadougou route remained the least punitive in terms of the $42.83 bribes collected.

Mr Dahoui said drivers readily paid bribes to officials at check points to avoid undue delay through inspections, adding that, they spent over three hours on the Tema-Ouagadougou route, two and half hours on the Bamako-Ouagadougou route and one and a half hours on the Lome-Ouagadougou route. The Team Leader called on African governments to take measures to reduce bribery by officials at the various checkpoints, adding that, the Police and Customs Excise Preventive Service (CEPS) were the most incriminating agencies mentioned during the survey. Mr Gabriel Glover, General Secretary of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance advised drivers to desist from purchasing fake documents to enable them claim their premiums in case of any accident. Some of the drivers appealed to the police in the ECOWAS countries to allow colleagues in transit who get involved in accidents the chance to contact their insurers instead of remanding them in cells.