SUNS  4323 Friday 13 November 1998

Lome, Nov 11 (IPS/Honore Yaovi Tchalim Blao) -- What's new on the main road from northern Togo to Burkina Faso is that a major barrier to a smooth trade flow in West Africa - checkpoints and the host of policemen and gendarmes who man them - has disappeared.

The roadblocks there, and along all other major arteries in this West African nation, have vanished thanks to a decision by member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to scrap them.

The decision was announced on Oct. 21 by Togo's Secretary of State for Security, General Akawilou Sizing Walla. "The Togolese government is stopping the roadside checks by the law-enforcement forces throughout the nation as of Oct. 23, 1998," he said. "The few checkpoints that
remain will be kept for security searches."

"The government is relying on transport unions to get their members and road users to respect the traffic code and safety regulations in everyone's interest," added Akawilou, who said Togo's government wanted the population to "contribute with its sense of civic duty to the success of this new pilot experience in road safety in ECOWAS countries."

Six of the 16 ECOWAS states - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo - are linked to one another by a well-functioning road network. Togo is the first of the six to abolish
its checkpoints, while Cote d'Ivoire has reduced those on its territory.

ECOWAS' other member countries are Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea (Conakry), Niger, Mali, Gambia and Guinee Bissau.

The checkpoints are just one of the obstacles to trade between African nations, which can at times be nightmarish. Other hurdles include high tariffs, currency disharmony and corrupt officials.

Processing a permit to take goods into Ethiopia, for example, can take weeks, and at the end of the wait one can still be turned down. South Africa keeps out small traders from neighbouring nations such as Zimbabwe by maintaining strict visa regulations.

West African traders, on the other hand, are able to travel from country to country within their region but they still face drawbacks. People moving between Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana complain of delays at border posts and bribe-hungry police. And a in October 1997, truckers from Mali, Niger, Ghana and Burkina Faso occupied a bridge on the Cote d'Ivoire-Burkina border for three days in protest against the hassles they undergo in Cote d'Ivoire where, they said, there was a checkpoint every 25 kms and they had to pay bribes at each one.

Along Togo's roads, too, getting past checkpoints without a hassle had a price, as minibus driver Ismael Foudou told IPS.

"The traffic police take 1,000 CFA francs, the police 500 CFA, the gendarmes 500 CFA: all that adds up to a lot," he said. "If I make a single trip to (the central town of) Sokode, I have to shell out at least 8,000 CFA and sometimes as much as 10,000 at the checkpoints.

(The CFA franc exchanges at about 565 to the U.S. dollar.)

"They pocket all that money. It's not fair because, in addition to that, they get their salaries at the end of the month," added Foudou, who said he was happy now that the roadblocks had been removed.

His satisfaction was shared by other road users.

"We can now breathe. The authorities have finally understood our misery and our helpless situation," commented Latifou Issiaka, a former student of English who now works as a bus conductor.

"We used to work for two bosses: the owner of the vehicle and the security forces," he added. "We used to hand over our earnings to them each day. Now that's finished. We'll be able to really live from our profession."

Alphonse Mawuena, a taxi driver in Lome, is not sorry to see the last of the lawmen. "Before it was as if we had to work to feed these policemen and gendarmes who used to illtreat us on the road. They think they have a right to force us to give them money."

Amina Arimiaou, a trader at the Lome road transport terminus, hopes the quality of road transport will now improve. "Four of us used to share seats meant for three, and sometimes we used to be as many as 15 in a nine-seater," she said. "Now, it's up to us passengers to put pressure on the transporters so that we can travel in good conditions."

"Nothing can justify overloading now," added Amina, who feels the drivers used to pack their vehicles so as to make up for the money they had to give the police.

Other road users are sceptical, like secondary school teacher Helene Nyuadzi. She thinks it's not enough to abolish the checkpoints, but that the government should set up a national commission to keep tabs on Togo's roads.

"We should not leave monitoring to the transporters unions alone," said Nyuadzi. "Their action has to be monitored. That's the only way safety can be guaranteed, otherwise passengers will be held to ransom by the transporters."