Aflao-Lome Border, an extortion and harassment post

Harassment and extortion of money from travellers on either side of the Aflao-Lome Border appears to be a very lucrative enterprise gleefully undertaken by custom and immigration officers.

Travellers including those with genuine travelling documents are forced to pay various sums of money or be detained for hours to break down their resistance to such illegal demands.

Some security officers at the Lome side of the Border wield clubs which they use on travellers to compel them to part with money before being allowed to into Togo.

The GNA went through a frustrating experience with a cover in an attempt to test the system at the weekend.

The situation has not improved despite official cautions and statements of commitment to ECOWAS protocol on the free movement of people in the sub-region.

While Custom officers at the Ghana side of the Border hardly demanded any money, their Immigration Counterparts on the other side however extort not less than GH¢4 from each traveller at anytime.

The Quarantine Office is another point of extortion where travellers with or without the immunization card commonly referred to as the “yellow” card are made to pay, GH¢4 before being allowed to continue their journey.

The Lome side of the Border is where most travellers especially from Ghana fear the most.

Officials there have no heart for pleas.

A Security Officer behind a big table checking passengers would occasionally thrust his hands into travellers’ pockets for money.

Travellers unable to pay GH¢4 or its equivalent or more in CFA are detained and humiliated for several hours before being allowed to go.

Some travellers the GNA spoke to appealed to the governments of Ghana and Togo “to do something drastic” about the situation which they described as very “embarrassing and frustrating”.

Source: GNA