The proliferation of filling stations and fuel smuggling in border areas

That smuggling in the country’s border areas represents a major challenge to national security and the country’s economic growth is a fact that cannot be disputed. In the Paga and Bawku areas of the Upper East Region, for example, smuggling of fuel products, fertilizers, pharmaceutical products, foreign currency, foodstuffs and even human beings has become endemic.

In March this year, the Ghana Immigration Service, through its Border Patrol Unit (BPU) at Paga near Navrongo, impounded 103 jerry-cans of fuel and 62 cartons of assorted medicines and handed over the items to the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority. In other border towns in the country, similar instances of smuggling are being recorded on a regular basis.

The smuggling of fuel products especially in the Upper East Region has been on the increase owing mainly to the fact that the products are easily available at the numerous fuel filling stations in towns near the common borders with Burkina Faso and Togo. There are about 14 fuel filling stations in Paga town alone which is just a stone throw from Burkina Faso. Behind all this, the intention should be obvious.

The situation is not different from that of the Bawku Municipality which is also close to Burkina Faso and Togo, where the commodity is in high demand and sold at a higher price as compared to what pertains in Ghana. No wonder smugglers would do all they can to convey the item across the border at the expense of the Ghanaian tax payer.

The numerous unapproved routes in the border areas also facilitate the movement of smugglers and their cargo in and out of the country. Some petroleum smugglers in the Region employ the services of donkeys to aid their nefarious activities thereby outwitting the security agencies manning the border checkpoints.

Smugglers find donkeys very useful for this purpose because those animals have become used to the routes and, once loaded, they travel across the borders to the intended destination without human supervision. Fuel smugglers capitalize on this opportunity and load their donkeys with jerry-cans full of fuel, and leave the animals to make their way across the border into Burkina Faso through the porous borders.

Riding on motor bikes, the smugglers then go ahead of their donkeys to the designated places and wait to off-load the fuel for sale.

One of the critical questions here is: “Who grants permission and permits for the opening of fuel filling stations in the country, and what are the criteria used in doing so?. An inquiry conducted by this writer revealed it is the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) that has the mandate of granting permits to operators to set up fuel filling stations. The Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), supports the NPA in taking that decision.

It has also been revealed that there are certain parameters that should be considered when establishing fuel filling stations and that the facility should not be too close the nearest border. But this is not so in the case of Paga and Bawku, the two notorious border towns of the Upper East Region as far as smuggling is concerned.

In fact, this writer gathered that the main reason for establishing the fuel stations closer to the border towns was to afford the station owners to smuggle the commodity across the border for sale for a greater profit margin.

Both present and past Governments have expressed concern about an increase in the rate of fuel smuggling across Ghana's borders to neighbouring countries, yet there has been no consistent, proactive measure to eradicate the canker.

Considering the intensity of fuel smuggling in border areas, there is the urgent need for the NPA, MMDAs and the EPA to sit up. They must particularly tighten the regulations guiding the setting up of fuel filling stations in the country as a whole, and especially in border towns such as Paga, Bawku, and the rest of them. In fact, some of those stations should be closed down to save the country’s hard earned revenue that is being used in importing petroleum products.

It is also imperative to form Anti- Fuel Smuggling Task Force groups in border towns. This body could comprise personnel from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces, Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority and the Immigration Service. Members of the Task Force would embark on anti-smuggling operations and patrols along Ghana’s frontiers to impound smuggled goods and bring smugglers to book.

Dr Ephraim Avea Nsoh, former Upper East Regional Minister upon the assumption of office, came face-to-face with the problem of fuel smuggling and immediately held a meeting with fuel station managers in Bolgatanga. Speaking at the meeting, he noted that it was the ordinary people who suffered most when fuel shortage occurred and indicated that in the deprived areas of the Region motorbikes were used to transport patients, particularly pregnant women, to the health facilities.

“As a result of the consistent shortage of fuel, it makes it impossible for patients in the remote areas to be transported to the health facilities. We cannot allow this to continue to happen,” the Minister cautioned. He issued a stern warning to fuel smugglers and people who hoard fuel, saying they would not be spared by the law when caught. He also pledged to ensure that those who did not have genuine permits and were weeded out.

Indeed, the Paga Sector Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service, Mr Faisal Disu, and his men should be commended for impounding large quantities of fuel, pharmaceutical drugs and other assorted contraband items during their regular operations along the border. It is a shining example which other sector commanders in border towns should emulate. It has to be emphasized, however, the need to resource the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) of the Ghana Immigration Service, as well as the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, to enable them to carry out their duties effectively.

Another issue of concern is Government’s subsidized fertilizer which is also being smuggled into Burkina Faso and Togo where it is in high demand. As a result, the Ghanaian peasant farmer for whose sake Government spends huge sums of foreign currency importing and subsidizing the fertilizers is deprived of the benefit. As the farming season approaches, there is the need to check this malpractice as well.

The country’s hard-earned resources should not be used to enrich a few unscrupulous and selfish people at the expense of the under-privileged. Government cannot continue to use hard earned foreign currencies to import petroleum and fertilizers only for the commodities to be hijacked by economic saboteurs. The relevant authorities should do everything possible to smash the smuggling syndicates in border areas and make such malpractices very unattractive by imposing heavy penalties on culprits.