Togolese truck drivers withdraw services

Aflao (V/R), July 23, GNA - Togolese truck drivers who cart goods across the Ghana-Togo border at Aflao into Togo and Benin have withdrawn their services over a 100 per cent increase in levies by the Ghanaian Border Security Committee (BORDSEC). They now have to pay 2,000 CFA Francs or 30,000 cedis per vehicle a day instead of 1,000 Francs or 15,000 cedis.

BORDSEC comprises representatives of the Police, Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Ghana National Fire Service and Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS). Goods carried by the truck drivers from the Ghana side of the border into Togo are mainly vegetables and fruits for sale in Togo and Benin. In the absence of the trucks traders have resorted to the use of porters to carry the items piecemeal to a new station created by the Togolese drivers at Kodzoviakope. A Ghanaian trader told the Ghana News Agency that the action of the drivers had increased the cost of business and wondered whether the levies were necessary. A Ghanaian clearing agent said the situation was a setback to the ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme that "calls for the free movement of people, goods and services to accelerate economic integration of the sub-region".

Mr Alex Okunor, Aflao Sector Commander of CEPS, told the GNA that he was not aware of the impasse as he was new and was yet to attend a BORDSEC meeting. He said traders should not be made to suffer unduly and that BORDSEC would invite the local GPRTU and the drivers to a meeting after which the levies could be reviewed. Mr Okunor said monies accruing from the levy were being used for development works at the border. Haulage of goods from Aflao to Togo and Benin started about two years ago after the Togolese security officials at the border outlawed the use of push trucks from carting goods across the border.