Traffic police, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) personnel and weighbridge attendants still demand bribes from truck drivers, a new report says.

Though the amount of bribes which the truck drivers were made to pay as well as time they spend in roadblocks have decreased, the problem is far from over, the report noted.

The Central and Dar Corridor Roadblocks Monitoring Survey by the Centre for Economic Prosperity shows that truck drivers paid an average of Sh1,354 in bribe to traffic police per stop, making an annual total of Sh3,320,970.

This bribe was paid to either at traffic police or checkpoints by 334 truck drivers in 2,452 stops in all three routes – Dar-Rusumo, Dar-Kabanga, and Dar-Tunduma – on the Central and Dar Corridor between November 2013 and May 2014.

“Although, the average amount paid in bribe to traffic police by truck drivers in 2013-2014 (Sh1,354) dropped compared with Sh2,008 paid in bribe to traffic police in 2012, there has been an increase in both – the number of stops enforced by traffic police, 2,452 stops in 2013-2014 compared with 854 stops in 2012, and – and total amount of money paid in bribe, Sh3,320,970 in 2013-2014 compared with Sh1,715,000 paid in bribe in 2012,” reads part of the report.

According to the survey, payments made in bribe to traffic police were more than Sh5,000 in more than half of all incidents.

Reacting to the survey findings, Traffic Police Commander Mohamed Mpinga said it was a shame to hear such statistics at the time when a lot of campaigns had been conducted to sensitise law enforcers on the adverse effects of corruption on roads.

“It is a shame because one of key reminders for every policeman or woman is to work in ethical manners and avoid corruption,” he told The Citizen on Sunday by phone paper yesterday.

Mr Mpinga said what had been captured in the survey was sad because it painted a bad image of the country as some of such trucks were used to ferry goods to neighbouring countries.

“This might scare away investors as well as and we might lose a number of trucks using our roads, thus affect our economy since the transport sector accounts for a large per cent of the national income.”

But Mr Mpinga said their efforts to tame corruption on highways had been hampered by truckers’ poor cooperation.

He said all drivers had been given contacts of top traffic officers in every region. They are free to call whenever they are asked to pay bribes, but most of them do not do so.

“But I do not agree with the reported number of stops because we have reduced the checkpoints from 58 in 2012 to six in 2014.

What we are planning now is involving the intelligence unit to investigate. They will be travelling by the truckers from the beginning to the end. We want to gather information ourselves because sometimes some of the issues we are being told through these surveys don’t seem to reflect what we know,” he said.

A TRA official who did not want to be named because he was not official spokesperson, said were ongoing efforts to reduce time which truck drivers spend at checkpoints.

However, he said it was obvious that compared with other checkpoints, drivers were likely to spend more time for TRA checks due to the process of documentation and verification of necessary information.

Weighbridges

According to the report, weighbridges continue to account for the most stops on the Central Corridor.

A contrast between 2012 and 2013-2014 shows a considerable increase on stops at weighbridges where the mostly affected truck drivers were those destined for Rusumo border (1,175 stops) and Tunduma border (1,094 stops).

However, truckers destined for Kabanga border encountered fewer checkpoints – 130 stops in 2013-2014 compared with 261 stops in 2012.

A drastic decrease in stops at TRA checkpoints in 2013-2014 is also recorded. The report says this development may be due to fitting of electronic devices on transit trucks to monitor their movements.

“It should be noted that, the stops at weighbridges, TRA checkpoints are normally consistent, while those enforced by traffic police are unpredictable – one must stop only when ordered to by police,” says the report.

According to the report, though TRA stops are consistent, drivers spent more time at TRA checkpoints than at weighbridges and traffic police or traffic police checkpoints.