“ECOWAS was founded on an economic foundation and that economic integration is facing a very serious challenge largely due to the difficulty in travelling and it makes nonsense of the free travel of goods and services from country to country in West Africa,” he said on the Citi Breakfast Show.

Mr. Fofana is no stranger to the woes of travelling within the sub-region and his recent experience flying between Sierra Leone and The Gambia, chronicled on the BBC, seemed to reinforce this position.

The BBC Africa Debate is also set to [on Friday, May 26] have a forum on the travel challenges in West Africa.

Mr. Fofana’s remarks on the ECOWAS’ integration targets also come on the back of an apparently concerted effort by President Nana Akufo-Addo to deepen ties with fellow West African States, which started with Ghana’s intervention in The Gambia’s political crisis.

President Akufo-Addo’s first few months as president has seen him pay working visits to Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia and Mali.

There are few direct flights between some neighbouring West African countries, with Mr. Fofana, a Sierra Leonean, recounting that he has experienced these difficulties “many times travelling from Sierra Leone to The Gambia which is a less-than-an-hour direct flight. It is something which I have been grappling with for the last two years.”

Tracing some of these travails to the Ebola outbreak of 2014, he recalled that The Gambia suspended flights coming from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, which were some of the hardest-hit by the deadly virus.

“As a result, the only airline that provided direct services from Freetown, Gambia Bird [Airlines] stopped flying and consequently, it went into liquidation. Since that time, flying to The Gambia has been a nightmare and it has required having to defer to North Africa or having to drive and then fly to be able to make it there,” Mr. Fofana explained.

He, however, noted that these travel difficulties were not peculiar to air travel between The Gambia and Sierra Leone as West Africa itself has fundamental problems in terms of integration.

“If you, for example, want to fly from Senegal to Cape Verde, which is 90 minutes direct, you would be required to fly from Dakar to Lisbon in Portugal first before coming to Cape Verde or you will have to fly to Morocco in North Africa before flying back into Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. It is like this for most countries in West Africa trying to fly from one end to the other.”

Travelling by road is an option but one will have to contend with extortion from corrupt customs officials, per the BBC journalist’s experience.

“The last time I went to Liberia by road, it was no different – a real nightmare. The customs officials will make life very difficult for you, bribery is an obligatory thing to do and it doesn’t matter whether you have a passport or national identity card or you are a journalist.”

Question of expense

Mr. Fofana attributed some of the problems to high flight costs and a lack of purchasing power on the part of West African State’s citizens owing to poverty and a limited middle class that cannot afford to fly, as compared to European counterparts.

“It is a very broad issue of the region not having a very strong middle-class to be able to fly and also, flight costs are very expensive. They are expensive because they don’t have enough traffic for them to be able to break even.”

Taxes on airlines in Africa, known to be the highest in the world, also contribute to the high fares.

“If your charge airlines a lot of money, they have nowhere else to recoup their money but on the ticket costs. So maybe we need to broaden that out to say; let’s lower the charges for airlines in West Africa and attract a lot more airlines which will lower the price of tickets. Consequently, a lot more people will be able to afford flying in the region.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Travel difficulties impeding ECOWAS integration – Umaru Fofana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Jammeh’s tenure which expires by midnight today, Wednesday, has been extended by 90 days by Gambia’s Parliament while a state of emergency has also been declared in the country.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, BBC correspondent, Umaru Fofana currently in Gambia said Barrow’s inauguration might not happen.

[contextly_sidebar id=”wWfdKTY8BVlWwrnnjGTa8My5VLN2Kef7″]“To be honest everything seems to be up in the air, nobody is sure what will happen in the next minute… By midnight tonight, his [Jammeh’s] tenure should end, but Parliament extended his mandate yesterday, the legitimacy of that is being challenged. The opposition collation assured me that they will go ahead with their inauguration tomorrow but that was before the state of emergency declaration. Due to the emergency declaration, large gatherings will not be allowed and I honestly can’t see how an inauguration ceremony will go ahead tomorrow with a state of emergency,” he opined.

The country is currently facing a political crisis because Mr. Jammeh who was defeated in the country’s polls held in December 2016 and after conceding defeat has now rejected the results and thus challenging it in court.

However, the court is expected to rule on the matter in May 2017.

Nigeria’s Warship

There were reports that Nigeria has dispatched a warship to Gambia following the political crisis but Fofana said “at this moment, the Nigerian military source told the BBC that they were not coming to fire any shot at least for a start.”

“If there is cooperation it will end that way but we are not sure what is happening,” he added.

Tourists exit Gambia

The BBC reporter also said on the Citi Breakfast Show that scores of tourists are leaving the country following the declaration of the state of emergency.

“Since last night tourist have been streaming out of the country since that emergency declaration. As I speak with you now, I can see a lot of European tourists at my hotel leaving the country. But the place is still calm.”

ECOWAS, AU fail to convince Jammeh to step down

Several talks between Jammeh, ECOWAS and AU leaders in a bid to have him step down failed.

The ECOWAS delegation was made up of Ghana’s former President John Mahama, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari and Liberia’s Ellen Sirleaf Johnson.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Gambia: Barrow’s inauguration in limbo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.