VOA常速英语2008年-Corruption on West Africa's Roads Delay Drivers

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
24 February 2008

The Economic Community of West African States is trying to change a long history of corruption² in the region's transportation industry. ECOWAS says due to corruption it costs more to transport goods in West Africa than anywhere else in the world. Phuong Tran reports for VOA from Dakar ECOWAS says it is working for a change.

Commercial truck drivers have long accepted that on West African roads, they have to pay bribes⁴ to the police, military and border officials.

Jacques Ylboudo has driven for the Burkinabe Merchandise Transport Company for the past 10 years.

Ylboudo says he only loses time if he tries to argue or negotiate the bribe³. He says even his passengers must pay at least two dollars each. He says long delays and bribes are a part of doing business in this part of the world.

The Economic Community of West African States says it has been collecting information along the region's most heavily traveled roads for the past year. Truck drivers volunteer to answer surveys about the number of control posts they pass, how much they pay, to whom, and how long they wait.

Researchers from the U.S.-funded West Africa Trade Hub, based in Ghana, collect forms at three main roads in Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, and Ghana.

Investment advisor⁵ Jeremy Strauss, of the U.S. Agency for International Development, says reducing corruption will increase trade flow and foreign investment. But Strauss says it is hard to measure corruption.

"It is a moving target because there are changes in the landscape of the corridor and people's experiences differ from year to year and from trip to trip," said Jeremy Strauss.

Investigators⁶ from West Africa Trade Hub recently drove through the region and found check points in Senegal were among the worst. The investigation⁷ found that for every 100 kilometers traveled, drivers paid on average $19 in bribes to get past more than seven checkpoints.

Questionnaires from last November showed the 900-kilometer drive from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Bamako, Mali ,was the most expensive. Drivers reported paying on average $128 in bribes at 25 checkpoints.

Driver Jacques Ylboudo says since he first started filling out surveys for the Trade Hub in late 2006, things are a little better, but he says there are still hours of delays.

He says in Ghana, police set up unofficial checkpoints on the road at night, and will disappear by the morning, along with the payments they received.

But the head of the transportation unit for Ghana's national police department, Daniel Avorca, says the problem is not only corrupt¹ policemen, but also drivers who willingly offer bribes to stay on the road illegally.

He says many drivers want to avoid arrest and fines for not having licenses⁸ to drive commercial trucks, or registering those trucks.

"The person who offers the money so that he or she will not be prosecuted⁹ sees it as advantage over the time he may waste to go to court," said Daniel Avorca. "This phenomenon is an on-going problem that we are trying to solve. We are fighting day and night."

The West Africa Trade Hub says drivers who fill out its surveys have their proper licenses and car registrations¹⁰.

Police chief Avorca says he has increased television and radio ads to ask people to report if they have been asked for bribes or offered bribes illegally, but he says most people are too scared to report because they are partly to blame.

Even so, the average number of bribes paid by drivers in Ghana went down from about $4 per 100 kilometers to about $3, according to the West Africa Trade Hub.

An official with Ghana's Ministry¹¹ of Transportation, Peter Ofori-Asumadi, is a member of the country's special transportation committee. In 2005, ECOWAS set up several such committees in countries with a lot of business traffic.

He says corruption in West African road transport is hard to solve because of how many people are involved: customs, military, police, port and transportation authorities.

"As huge as it may seem, I think that if these issues are publicized, and you are not the only one who is aware, and you think you are working in secret, and now it is exposed, it may go down, if not eliminated completely," said Peter Ofori-Asumadi.

Ofori-Asumadi says that's a goal worth pursuing.

1 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

4 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

5 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

9 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

10 registrations   

n.登记( registration的名词复数 )；登记项目；登记（或注册、挂号）人数；（管风琴）音栓配合（法）

参考例句：

• In addition to the check-in procedures, the room clerks are customarily responsible for recording advance registrations. 除了办理住宿手续外，客房登记员按惯例还负责预约登记。 来自辞典例句
• Be the Elekta expert for products registrations in China. 成为在中国注册产品的医科达公司专家。 来自互联网

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。