Unethical practices have a disastrous effect on the efficiency of African trade and transport

Corruption in Africa can be likened to an infectious disease with an infection rate higher than that of Aids, and which has spread throughout every country on the continent – with devastating consequences to the economy of Africa and rendering it the most expensive continent with which to do business.

While African countries are not the only ones worldwide that are faced with this epidemic, they have an infection rate higher than 90% – and by this I mean every country on the content with the exception of Botswana and Mauritius being affected in the high end of the scale by this perception index (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index).

There are different kinds of corruption in Africa: there are the well-known types – public officials demanding and taking bribes for privileged access to contracts or exemptions from regulations.

Africa scores poorly on these indicators, but with some exceptions: Botswana, Cape Verde and Mauritius have consistently done well, and Liberia has made great strides.

More recently, light has been shed on a different type of corruption – called “quiet corruption” – when public servants fail to deliver services paid for by the government.

The most prominent examples are absentee teachers in public schools and absentee doctors in primary clinics. Others include drugs being stolen from public clinics and sold in the private market as well as subsidised fertiliser being diluted before it reaches farmers.

Not only is quiet corruption pervasive in Africa, but it hurts the poor disproportionately.

High-profile corruption is often in the media limelight and we see many cases of so-called white-collar crime being successfully combated by law enforcement agencies and the perpetrators being brought to book and sentenced to jail, with the latest high-profile case being the Jackie Selebi corruption trial in South Africa.

While this sort of corruption continues to occur in Africa – with the culprits taking their chances and getting away with it – there is a system in place to address this.

But what of the quiet or silent corruption? How is this being addressed? Clearly, it is not, as this sort of corruption is so bad in Africa that many of those guilty of quiet corruption are not even aware they are committing this crime; it has become a way of life, and a part of Africa’s culture.

While this sort of corruption is rife in every government department as well as the private sector, I want to focus on how it is affecting trade facilitation and the removal of tariff barriers in Africa.

We all know that border posts in Africa have become the focal point of corruption, and many customs officials as well as law enforcement agents and some of the private sector players are being bought over by large crime syndicates to help carry out trade fraud by using their powers at border posts to allow illegal transactions to take place here. This can be anything from deliberate under-declarations i.e. under-valuation of a commercial invoice for goods being cleared to reduce the duties payable, to the falsifying of documents – as occurred during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, where goods declared on paperwork were shoes, but the actual consignment was illegal World Cup memorabilia destined to be sold in South Africa at under-cut prices.

Then there is transit fraud, where goods are changed or substituted en route in the transit country and then allowed to proceed without physical examination taking place at the border; or where documents are stamped and cleared at the border and the goods are offloaded in the transit country, but never reach their final destination.

These are some of the examples of the more high-profile corruption that takes place along a trade corridor or at a border post. Through my interaction with the management of some of the border post authorities and agencies, I have established that they are fully aware of the level of corruption at some of the border posts and even know who the culprits are; but if they were to take action against the perpetrators, they would render the border dysfunctional, as they do not have sufficient suitably qualified or trained staff to replace them.

Therefore, the only way to address the situation is by introducing new systems; one-stop border posts and the Southern African Development Community Transit Management System; accreditation systems such as the Authorised Economic Operator for transporters; and high-tech cargo tracking or monitoring systems such as radio-frequency identification technology.

All these are intended to enhance the green lane system at border posts and ports and minimise corruption through fewer human interventions.

This is all well and good, but what of the aforementioned quiet corruption – the less significant corruption that continues daily as if it were a way of life? It is this deliberate abuse of power that makes it so wrong and unacceptable.

While this ranges from high and deliberate absenteeism by staff at border posts and other border agencies to driver smuggling for personal gain, the single greatest concern in my book is the number of police checkpoints in each country – be it permanent or temporary – and the mismanagement of weighbridges.

These checkpoints have become privately run financial institutions, receiving funds for personal gain in exchange for the overlooking of a serious vehicle default that could go on to cause a serious road accident and loss of innocent life; or in exchange for finding a fictitious fault, simply to encourage the driver to buy his way out of the fine.

Having travelled extensively through Africa, I have seen this happen firsthand. The targets for this practice are largely foreign-owned vehicles, as the drivers are most likely to be carrying a fair amount of cash required for their transit through foreign African countries. This cash is usually in the form of United States dollars, as it is the most accepted currency in Africa.

While I do not condone corruption and will never hand over money in return for a favour, I have learnt from travelling in Africa that these checkpoints are usually easier passable by being polite, displaying a broad smile on one’s face and carrying a large cooler box full of cool drinks because it gets very hot in Africa and these gentleman – and sometimes ladies – get very thirsty from the very strenuous job they do...

Then there is the mismanagement of weighbridges and/or abuse of power where officials deliberately accept a bribe to allow a heavily overloaded vehicle to proceed on its journey, only to cause serious damage to the roads on which it travels to reach its destination.

Many of our roads have a planned lifespan of 10 to 15 years, but rarely see out three years before they require repair and/or resurfacing.

The logical solution in my opinion would be to combine the functions of both the weighbridge authorities and police checkpoints and locate them at weighbridge sites as has been done in South Africa, with good examples being Monsolli between Pretoria and Kranskop on the N1 and at the new Cross Border Road Transport Agency centre at the Beitbridge border post.

By combing these different authorities and functions at one facility, you are firstly minimising the opportunity for corruption from taking place as there is better supervision of activities and staff; and secondly, it will reduce the number of stops required to be made by transporters along a transit route or corridor.

Whereas in the isolated areas where the checkpoints are currently located, there is no supervision and these officials have free rein to conduct illegal activities.

I am not for one minute suggesting that the police should stop deploying mobile checkpoints or roadblocks in these areas, as they are still necessary when police act on tip-offs or carry out routine checks to combat criminal activities.

Over and above the corruption factor discussed, these numerous checkpoints and weighbridges are causing huge transit delays for transporters and the movement of cargo through Africa.

In a recent study conducted in 10 southern African countries by my company, Transport Logistics Consultants, we detailed the number of police checkpoints and weighbridges in these countries, the results of which can be found on the website www.freightintoafrica.co.za.

It is estimated that a vehicle or truck carrying cargo will spend on average about 10 minutes at each checkpoint or weighbridge on its journey from origin to final destination.

If you do the maths, by checking how many checkpoints or weighbridges you are likely to encounter along a particular route or trade corridor, you will find that it could add as much as one day’s travel onto your transit time.

In conclusion: If we are to achieve our goals to improve trade facilitation, reduce transit times, remove tariff or trade barriers, create a free trade area and ultimately reduce the cost of doing business to make Africa a global player, then we have to instil good governance and transparency from the hierarchy downward within both the public and private sectors in African countries.

Mike Fitzmaurice