Attawel Almou Spent two weeks travelling on buses around West Africa to experience the extent of the official corruption his members and their passengers struggle with every day

After two weeks travelling on the roads of West Africa, my main observation is that the harassment of bus drivers and passengers at the borders is mostly caused by customs officers, though police can also be troublesome. In some countries they have special “rates” for passengers: one rate for those without identity cards (up to 2,000 francs, where 1,000 West African francs or CFA francs equal US$2) and one rate for passengers with an identity card (500-1,000 francs).

In my country of Niger, most of our checkpoints are situated at the border between Niamey and Burkina Faso. There is only one police checkpoint among them, and there is no problem with crossing the border. Surprisingly, in Burkina there is no control at all between the border town of Kantchari and the Burkina border.

Mapping the offenders The figures below are extracted from the results of a survey undertaken for the Improved Road Transport Governance partnership between the Economic Community of West African States and the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The survey mapped three major corridors taking in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo. Number of stops per 100km: Mali: 4.5 Ghana: 2.2 Burkina Faso: 2 Togo: 1.5 Levels of bribes per truck per 100km (CFA francs equivalent in US$s) Mali: US$25.09 Burkina Faso: US$8.73 Ghana: US$4.17 Togo: US$3.33 Time lost en route per truck per 100km Mali: 38 mins Burkina Faso: 23 mins (average over three routes) Ghana: 21 mins Togo: 16 mins

Most of the passengers arriving in Niger are migrant people coming from Côte d’Ivoire and neighbouring countries. The customs officers insist on conducting thorough searches right from the first customs point in Niger. When you travel further into the country, you get the same scenario. We are negotiating to allow vehicles to go through without having to get all the passengers out.

I carried on my enquiries right up to the border with Mali. Buses reaching the border, after following the necessary procedures in Burkina, must disembark all their passengers when they enter Mali. They must give their identity papers to the police officers, who go into their office and call the passengers one by one. The passengers must pay 1,000 francs to get their papers back. Those without papers must negotiate with the police officers. Very often, the bus driver must intervene to mediate between the passengers and the police officers.

Endless extortion

Once the checkpoint is cleared, it is on to Kouri, where the passengers must chip in to pay to avoid a “miraculous” search. Then on to Fana where there is a custom post but no problems.

At Sikasso the passengers have to pay 1,000 francs to customs officers. The bus driver must pay 5,000 francs when he arrives and another 5,000 when he leaves. Next Diboli where passengers must pay 2,000 francs, the bus driver 5,000.

To enter Senegal, passengers and driver alike pay 1,000 francs. Custom officers don’t ask for anything. But at checkpoints inside the country Senegalese police officers ask for 1,000-2,000 francs. In Tambacounda, drivers and passengers alike pay 5,000 francs to enter and leave. At two other checkpoints in the country customs officers ask 30,000 francs for the passengers and bus driver together.

In Benin, from Malanville to Cotonou, you are requested to pay various ransoms. It starts at the Niger border, on the bridge. Passengers pay 500 francs and then again 500 francs to cross the bridge. If a passenger has not got a vaccination book, the “rate” is higher. In Malanville, passengers pay 1,000-2,000 francs if they have no papers. In Kandi, police officers ask for 10,000 francs. In Ndali, police officers ask for 5,000 francs. Custom officers and national police ask for 15,000 francs each.

There is no further request for payment at the entrance to the southern city of Abomey, near the Togo border, especially in daytime. At night though, it is different. Officials block the road because there is no checkpoint. Drivers must “negotiate”. This is why drivers park their buses from six or seven in the evening until six the following morning. In nearby Dassa, it is the same thing but they “operate” during the day, not at night.

Elsewhere in the south of Benin, police variously charge around 3,000-5,000 francs if they are present.

Between Cotonou to Hilladonji, if the police officers are there they will ask the driver to get out of the bus – but if the driver refuses and resists, they usually let him go. This is what happened to us. We found a policewoman sitting at the checkpoint. We stopped and she wouldn’t open the gate. We stayed there for five minutes and then she asked the driver to come and see her. I told him to stay put.

He put the bus into gear and when she saw that the driver was not prepared to stop she told them to open the gate.

In Nigeria, you have to pay everybody: police, immigration. Passengers must pay 20 nairas (100-150 francs) to enter the daily markets. If they feel like it, police may ask up to 50 nairas. But I ended my journey at Illela, at the border post.

Support for drivers

West African road transport unions are trying now to inform our drivers about their rights. As soon as they face problems on the road, they can call the nearest trade union for help. The union will then explain what they have to do or to say.

Sometimes talking on the phone is not enough. We need to go and see the driver.
We cannot ask too much of the unions in Côte d’Ivoire because of insecurity in the country, but we have organised an escort at the border with Burkina Faso. Prices vary but, in Bouaké for example, customs officers ask for 3,000 francs and the escort asks for up to 150,000 francs to go to the border with Burkina Faso.

When you enter Ouagadougou, custom officers used to ask for 30,000 francs but this practice has gradually disappeared. Still, with any vehicle coming from Niger or Côte d’Ivoire, passengers are gathered and must show their identity papers. Those who don’t have their papers go to a special office where they must pay a fine of 9,000 francs.

As soon as we heard about this, we informed the Burkina authorities and very quickly they put an end to this practice. It was sorted out within 10 minutes. Since then, we have not heard of many problems. In Kantchari, vehicles were paying 20,000 francs for the police, 25,000 for the custom officers, and when you leave the place, it’s 20,000 francs for the police.

But lately, the situation in Burkina seems to have improved. Drivers coming from other countries tell us they have not had any problem. As to Ghana, things are much better there. Once a driver gets into Ghana, he is treated like a Ghanaian and only needs to pay the road tax.

Within Niger, we are trying to establish a system for road and police controls, so that once a driver has been checked in a district, he gets a paper proving that he has been controlled and won’t need to go through another control while he stays in the same district.

Attawel Almou’s union is SNCRVN of Niger.