It appears that attempts to stamp out red tapes and cut down illegal checkpoints on the country’s trade corridors have started yielding the desired results.
This
is because checkpoints of the various security agencies on the 766 kilometres
of road have reduced from 61 in November 2017 to 22 (permanent and temporal) as
of the second week of September this year.
A
recent fact-finding and advocacy trip on the Tema-Paga corridor by the Ghana
Shippers' Authority (GSA) showed an improved situation, with police
interference in transit truck movement diminishing along the corridor.
It followed a nationwide sensitisation
on the important role of police officers in trade facilitation along Ghana’s
transit corridor by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority and Ghana Police Service.
The context
The
GSA’s fact-finding trips came about after several reports of harassment of
cargo transit truck drivers by some police officers and extortion which was
impeding trade facilitation and making the nation’s ports unattractive to its
neighbouring landlocked countries.
The development was brought to the
attention of the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), James Oppong-Boanuh,
who directed that a nationwide sensitisation should be held for senior police
officers to help deal with the menace.
As
a result, the GSA collaborated with the Ghana Police Service to hold several
sensitisation programmes across the country.
Results
The
programme, which has been sustained since 2020, has yielded results as data
from a recent fact-finding trip on the Tema-Elubo corridor held between
September 12th – 16th 2022 showed that no police officer stopped a
well-identified transit truck.
The
data from the fact-finding team also revealed 11 permanent and 11 temporary
police barriers along the corridor.
Road governance
The
Head of Freight and Logistics at GSA, Fred Asiedu Dartey, at the GSA’s Transit
Shipper Committee Meeting in Accra on September 28, noted that, for all parties
involved in the transit trade value chain, the difficulties with road
governance throughout Ghana's transit corridors have been a bane to shippers
and transit truck drivers.
Key problem
“Also,
non-tariff barriers have increased the cost of shipping transit cargo along
major transport corridors while also impeding the seamless movement of such
cargo,” he said.
Mr Dartey who is also Chairman of the
Transit Shipper Committee said efforts by GSA and other stakeholders to help
reduce the disturbing sprawling of checkpoints by police, customs, immigration,
forestry and axle load officers were yielding the desired results.
He
added that the country's corridors would become more competitive in terms of
freight costs if the situation was replicated in all other corridors, namely
Tema – Paga and Tema - Elubo.
Source: Graphic Online