BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
Though the government has been taking various measures to contain illegal trade, the practice has been growing from time to time. The absence of strong institutions in the law enforcement system along with corruption attributes to the escalation of this illicit practice. Tobacco products, new and used clothes, medicines, food and beverages, electronic items and other expired medicines enter to the country in huge volume through illegal trade. Such practice may be common to the ordinary citizens particularly in the peripheral regions of the country. Since recently, the types of products which enter to the country are increasing and among others, illegal drugs, arms, foreign currencies and other products are coming here illegally.
Some of them are traced and captured by the law enforcing organs and the culprits face criminal charges. In addition, according to Custom Commission, vehicles and spare parts and heavy machine guns entered the country illegally. According to Mulugeta Beyene, vice Commissioner in the Department of Abiding by the custom Law at the Custom Commission, high valued minerals have been taken away to the neighboring countries. On the other hand, similar to legal money, forged foreign currencies are coming here illegally. Foreign currency coming here legally is also taken away out of the country illegally. Due to the illegal flight of mines, Ethiopia has been losing huge amount of hard currency that it would secure if had been exported in the formal channel.
Local products like coffee, forest products, sand, and cement find their ways to the neighboring countries via illegal trade including petroleum products which the country imported by spending high amount of hard currency. A month ago, for instance, in the Oromia region, Yabello town, benzene was officially seen crossing the border to a neighboring country through illegal trade. Mulugeta further said that illegal traders conduct transporting goods illegally during night times. In these illegal activities, organized youth are found engaged in facilitating transportation from place to place.
The major actors of the illegal trade prefer night time for conducting their criminal act and utilize the youth to facilitate the illicit business through cross border trade. The youth, while participating in this illegal practice, pay heavy scarify up to death to protect the illegally transported goods confronting the law enforcing bodies. Most youth engaged in this illegal act are drug addicted and when their emotion is elevated to the higher level, they develop courage to involve in such criminal acts. Illegal trade not only harms the nation’s economy but also forces the youth to deviate from the social norm and spend their time in the unproductive criminal activities.
The organized youth, in order to conduct their ill gain business, resort to agitate the community members residing where the illegal goods are transported and create mob and close the roads so that, when the law enforcement bodies preoccupied in settling the mob, they easily transport the goods to the border areas. Not only these, the youth utilize the public institutions’ vehicles and ambulances to transport the goods for cross border trade.
Moreover, some vehicles with fake Federal Police, ambulance or other international institutions’ plates also involve in transporting the illegal goods. Some air and sea transport providing institutions which have immunity not to be checked at the check points also found transporting goods from the country towards the neighboring countries and to bring illegal goods from abroad.
The House of Peoples Representatives endorsed proclamation number 859/2006 which deals with the illegal cross border trade. According to the proclamation, if a person found guilty engaged in illegal trade will be subjected to the administrative measures, confiscation of the illegal commodities and to be fined up to 15 years of imprisonment. The Custom Commission in the last four years has been taking various measures to contain illegal trade. It has made accountable illegal traders and confiscated their illegally amassed property. Nevertheless, the illegal trade is escalating from time to time adversely hammering the economy.
Areas categorized as the most vulnerable to illegal trade
Places that are identified as the most illegal trade transition corridor are Somali Region, Dire Dawa City and its surrounding areas. It is proved that, high volume of illegal goods is transacted in these areas. Some community members and ill behaved security forces are also engaged in the illegal trade. In addition, the area is the place where Khat product is illegally transported to the neighboring countries of Djibouti and Somalia.
The places identified as the second vulnerable to illegal trade are the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region and Southern Oromia in Moyale, and Shashemene. These places serve as corridor for illegally exporting agricultural products to the neighboring countries and to import electronic products from the mentioned countries. The third area categorized as corridor for illegal trade is the northern part of Ethiopia which includes Amhara and Tigray regions. These areas are identified as the very ideal corridor for smuggling armaments.
The root causes of illegal trade
According to Mulugeta, in Ethiopia the economic, social and political factors create loopholes for the emergence of illegal trade. Searching for wealth and gaining wealth through short cut means can be mentioned as economic factors. Illegal commodities transacted along ethnic, religion, linguistic line and kinship with the people residing in the neighboring countries and such type of business activities can be categorized as social factor.
As to Mulugeta, in some sects of the Ethiopian society, illegal trade is regarded as a normal business activity and this creates embarrassment in enforcing laws which in turn aggravates the problem. Activities carried out by criminals and other interest groups to meddle against the political establishment through money laundering and smuggling illegal arms can be mentioned as political factors. There are also other factors which exacerbate the situation. No matter how, illegal trade affects both individuals’ income and the government’s revenue collecting capacity.
The illegally imported goods and commodities directly affect the producing industries and put them in to bankruptcy and coerced to lay off their workers. On the other hand, some medicines imported illegally critically affects human health. Some patients are exposed to severe health problems including losing their sites and even their life by using illegally imported medicines. In the eastern part of Ethiopia, looking the illegally imported medicines in some pharmacies is common. Illegal trade is darkening future of the youth. Unless controlled in advance, it also has a power to make a country a failed state.
Sadly, some diplomats with immunity status free from checking in the check points and represent their country found bringing heavy and endangered weapon to the country. As to Mulugeta anti- illegal trade commission is established at national level but it has not fully engaged in containing the criminal activities and such gaps further complicated the matter. Factors that can be mentioned responsible to the exacerbation of illegal trade are, the tax imposed at the custom office, shortage of hard currency that can be used for the importation of goods and limited execution capacity of the institutions.
The cumbersome procedure witnessed in the Judiciary system from criminal investigation up to prosecuting also can be mentioned as inhibitive factor in mitigating illegal trade. Only in the last eight months more than 1000 suspects are prosecuted because of the involvement in illegal trade.
Even though these people are arrested and put under the police custody, no detail investigation is carried out yet and none of them are prosecuted which in turn escalates the problem. Hence, restructuring the law enforcement bodies, improving policies and working in collaboration with the neighboring countries surely play pivotal role in mitigating the problem. Reorganizing institutions, and strengthening them by well- trained man power and technology is also essential. He further said that, the commission is getting prepared to utilize technology helpful to supervise the board members activities.
Recently, while giving response to the questions of members of the parliament, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that in the last budget year, the Benishangul–Gumuz region supplied 20 quintals of gold to the National Bank of Ethiopia. However, the region could supply only three quintals to the National Bank in this budget year due to the escalating illegal trade and this clearly shows how the matter is worrisome.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 3 MAY 2023
