On May 28, 1975, heads of state of 15 West African countries met in Lagos, the then federal capital of Nigeria, and appended their signatures to a historical document called the Treaty of Lagos. West African leaders who signed that document included Lt.Col Mathieu Kerekou of Benin, Sangoule Lamizana of Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso, Houphoet Boigny of Cote d’Ivoire, General Gnansigbe Eyadema of Togo, Dauda Jawara of The Gambia, Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea and Luis Cabral of Guinea Bissau.
The rest were William Tolbert of Liberia, Moussa Traore of Mali, Col Seyni Kountchie of Niger, General Murtala Muhammed of Nigeria, Leopold Senghor or Senegal, Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone, Ould Daddah of Mauritania, and General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong of Ghana. That treaty brought to life the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
ECOWAS was conceived as a sub-regional body with the mission to promote co-operation and integration in economic, social and cultural spheres, leading to the West African Economic Union through which total integration of the national economies of member states will be achieved. The ultimate objective is to improve the welfare and living standards of citizens of member states.
In a revised treaty signed in 1993, the sub-regional body set as its targets the extension of economic and political co-operation among member states, and the achievement of a common market and a single currency as the economic objectives, while politically, it aimed at providing for a West African Parliament, and economic and social council and an ECOWAS Court of Justice among other structures.
To concretise these agenda, several protocols were signed by member states, chief among them being the protocol on free movement of people, goods and services as a way of facilitating trade and social integration within the sub-region.
Even though these are lofty objectives on paper and notwithstanding the various protocols, sub-regional integration on the lines of the European Union as envisaged by the founding fathers remains a daunting task for ECOWAS leaders.
It must be put on record that the peace-keeping role of ECOWAS under the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), in both Liberia and Sierra Leone, was very exemplary. However, trade among ECOWAS members remains abysmally low as most of the countries continue to rely on European and Asian countries for their external transactions.
It could be argued that most of the leaders have failed to exhibit the necessary goodwill and moral strength to implement the various protocols, especially the one on free movement of persons, goods and services across frontiers in the sub-region.
It is also true that many governments have failed to reduce the number of physical barriers in their countries, which serve as impediments on the path of traders who do business between countries. Corruption at the frontiers, perpetuated by border officials, coupled with unrealistic tariffs, has seriously undermined intra-regional trade and thus made it a better economic choice to import goods from the Asian market, particularly from China and Korea.
This apart, poor transportation infrastructure in the sub-region is a major obstacle impeding trade among West African countries. Unlike in Europe, where there are rail links between member countries of the European Union, facilitating easy and convenient movement of people and goods, ECOWAS countries rely mostly on roads to connect to each other.
Unfortunately, most of these roads are not of international standards to ferry goods and people conveniently and safely to their destinations.
I am, particularly, worried about the Accra-Aflao road, which links Ghana to neighbouring Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
The importance of this road in terms of revenue generation and social integration cannot be underestimated. Aflao is one major revenue-generating border point for Ghana in addition to Kotoka International Airport, the ports in Takoradi and Tema and the border point at Elubo.
Apart from that, all those travelling to the southern part of the Volta Region, as well as those travelling between Ghana and the republics of Togo, Benin and Nigeria, all ECOWAS member countries, must of necessity use the Aflao road and even cross the border at Aflao as the case may be.
However, the journey from Accra to Aflao can be very rough, tough and dangerous. From Accra to Dabala Junction is first-class even though it could still have been better if instead of a single-lane it were expanded into a dual-carriageway.
Civilisation comes to an end after Dabala Junction. It is not easy to find words to describe the portion of the road between Dabala Junction and Aflao. From that portion onwards, the road does not indicate that one was heading towards Lome, the capital of the Republic of Togo, or even further to Benin or Nigeria.
The contract to work on that portion, it is said, has been awarded to a Chinese firm. But apart from the presence of heavy equipment and piles of gravel, work is so painfully slow that many travellers wish the road remained untouched. Meanwhile, the numerous barriers mounted by various agencies including footsoldiers give the impression that this country is at war. This cannot promote free movement of goods and people and engender sub-regional integration.
Come to think of it. Aflao is, maybe, the only border town which opens straight into the capital of another sovereign country. That is an opportunity to make it a showpiece and tap to the fullest all the advantages the situation offers.
Elsewhere, Aflao would have been a glittering town with facilities to lure businessmen and women from Lome and beyond to come and spend their money there in a very legitimate way to swell up individual and national coffers. With our relatively more stable political environment, national security and better managed economy, a place like Aflao, sharing walls with Lome, could easily have been a conduit to take as much as we could from our neighbours. But to get to Aflao is a problem. It is a border town too far.
We do not know whose fault it is, whether ours or the Chinese contractors’. But whatever the problem is, the contract must be executed very fast so that our neighbours from Togo, Benin and Nigeria who want to do business with us and want to visit to be with their relations will drive safely in comfort and with all smiles.
We have placed the GATEWAY TO WEST AFRICA tag on ourselves whether justifiably or not. But once we have done that, we need to live up to expectation. The road to Aflao must be SMOOTH.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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