At Crossroads- Togo-Ghana Border

While in Ghana (2009), my roommate and I planned a road trip to Benin and Togo. On our way back to Ghana, we had to wait on a long line at the Togo-Ghana border. While waiting in line, I noticed the border agents were requesting that everyone including citizens of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) who are by law excluded from paying border fees, pay a border-crossing fee of an equivalent of $0.50. As this exploitation transpired, I overheard an agent asking an elderly woman carrying merchandise on her head for the fee, and she explained that she didn’t make enough money on that day to pay.

As she begged him to let her through, she began squeezing her way though him, in response, he pulled her back, slapped her face and ordered her to move to the side while he attended to the others in line. Watching this happen to the elder made me so angry, so in protest, I decided that I wouldn’t pay the fee until he gave me a legitimate reason to do so.

Once it was my turn, I showed him my Nigerian passport and tried passing through gently, he then ordered me in French to come back. I stepped back, looked at his face and asked “mais pourquoi?” (But why), in reference to the fee. As we argued, he adjusted the AK-47 on his shoulder so that my eyes would make contact with his gun barrel. At this time, everyone was scared. I still refused to pay the fee. He used his hand to push me to the side and signaled for the next person in line to move forward. Finally my roommate got tired of waiting, so she forced $0.50 in my palm. I took the money, spat on it and gestured for the agent to take it, he declined saying that I had put an “evil-eye” on the money and out of fear, he allowed me to cross.

I took the risk of not paying because I wanted to stand up to these agents-making them realize that their actions were unlawful, and violent and in return make travelers understand that they didn’t have to pay bogus fees, and that collectively, we can stop this kind of exploitation. However, my strategy wasn’t well thought out.

I approached the situation with anger, instead of with tact. That is, my argument with the agent resulted in a longer-waiting time and caused confusion, and could have cost the lives of innocent people-if the agent had discharged his weapon. Therefore, I failed on so many levels, and for over a week I was still in shock- reflecting on my actions and what “I could have done differently”. Since then, I have been educating myself and approaching situations holistically, specifically through the use of performance art (dance) to educate and raise awareness on social justice issues. Next time, my first step would be to coordinate a joint letter to the ECOWAS chairman-urging his action on this issue.