Tag: West Africa

Ghana Customs Shock

To date, apart from a few things procured locally, the primary source of parts to rebuild our 1995 Landrover Defender has been two shipments from Famous Four http://www.famousfour.co.uk/ in England.     This is how we got almost all the brakes and  clutch parts, the rear half axles, the wheel bearings, the tie rod ends, the door seals,  the aluminum chequerplate panels, the heavy duty shocks, etc.   Those shipments came into Ghana with greater ease and speed than I had expected in March and April, delivered to the front door of the embassy within two weeks of sending from the source.

I started compiling a list of things for a third shipment in June to cover a few mechanical pieces that I had missed in the earlier shipments, as well as some interior and exterior finishing pieces.  The third shipment is relatively small and includes relatively  inexpensive, yet vital  pieces that are not available or are very expensive locally.  It includes:  the fuel sender (the piece in the tank which which measures the fuel level for the fuel gauge which I discovered had been removed from this vehicle at some point); the bonnet release cable and device;  a handbrake cable that is too expensive here; a new set of floor screws,  tie rod ends (that I should have ordered the first time);  and some mechanical pieces like bushings for the rear A-frame that were not part of the bushing kit I got in the first shipment. more body pieces  (aluminum chequerplate for the hood, screws to tighten up some of the body plates, new exterior lights to replace the old ones that might work and look OK now but will look really old when we repaint the body.   I also bought new front seat foams and covers from Exmoor Trim in England (www.exmoortrim.co.uk) .   One of the reasons why I wanted to do our own vehicle is that I did not like the way they did the interiors here, the seats were particularly frightening.   However, this shipment did not  include any soundproofing even though much of the delay in finalizing the order resulted from my own indecision about the various options for the stuff.  In the end I concluded that all things considered England would not be the optimal choice for soundproofing for us(see separate “sound reduction puzzle” post).

This shipment has demonstrated how the reliance on externally-sourced parts makes my schedule vulnerable to delays beyond my control.   There were already delays due to my own indecision and effort to include as much as possible in this shipment before finally finalizing the order in late  July.   When mid-August came and I had not heard anything I went back to Famous Four to ask for a sitrep.  The next day I received a phone call from TNT in Ghana to say the shipment had arrived in Ghana but was being held in at the airport by the Customs and Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and that I would need to present myself at the airport in order to clear it.    This had not part of the process in any of the previous shpments,  neither of the two  Famous Four shipments or the early investment in outfitting gear we had shipped back from South Africa last December incl. a mobile fridge before we even owned the vehicle.    I have to wonder how long the things had been in Ghana before TNT deemed to phone me, perhaps prompted by a call from Famous Four.  As it turns out this was just the beginning of series of problems with both TNT and CEPS that would combine to seriously delay the delivery of this shipment.

I took a morning off work to go to the airport cargo area and on arrival at the entrance was besieged by people asking where I was going, one fellow just got into my front seat uninvited and said he would show me where TNT was.  It turns out everyone there is looking for  a cut in the process.   When I got to the TNT office I was informed that I had to pay a “handling charges”, even though my shipping fees with Famous Four were to take it to the door.    DHL, who had handled the two previous shipments, had on both occasions delivered the goods no problem to the High Commission without delay.    I declined paying the handling fees and left the airport and sent a message to Famous Four to seek clarification about shipping/handling costs.  The next day I got a phone call from a manager at the local TNT office (with a strong British accent) to apologize for the confusion, there would be no handling fee, but I still needed to clear Customs.

A couple of days later I went back to the airport and went through the same process of having someone jump into the front seat.  This time I was well received at TNT by the same person who had asked me for the handling fee the previous occasion,  who this time just escorted me to the small office of a CEPS officer at the end of the warehouse.   Despite the modest office the CEPs officer had an air of assurance and authority and people around certainly deferred to him.   After we were introduced he looked at the documents the TNT person had given him and asked if these car parts were for official purposes or  my personal use.   I decided it would be tough to convince him these were official auto parts and indicated it was for my personal vehicle.  He said that even though I was a diplomat entitled to duty-free import of personal possessions,  how did he know I did not have a Ghanaian girlfriend I was bringing in car parts for?   I said I did not appreciate being accussed of abusing my diplomatic privilege,  that I was obliged to respect laws and  protocol, just CEPS was obliged to respect the Geneva Convention.   He said that since this was for personal not official use I would have  seek the approval of Ghana’s the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  I was  not sure  that was true but it did not seem totally improbable and I decided there was nothing to be gained from challenging him and said I would be pleased  of course to follow any required procedures.   While he was telling me about the procedure I had to follow, he also wanted to  impress upon me  how long the procedure could take,  as if I had some choice.

The reason for his making the point about how long the process could take became clear only after I had agreed to go for MFA clearance and left his small office at the end of a warehouse and was walking acrosss the yard.  As I neared my car  I  was approached by a fellow I had noticed in the  warehouse when I first came in.  He repeated the Customs agent’s refrain that it could take a long time to obtain the clearance, but that he thought I could get the goods that day if I was prepared to pay the duty.   I asked if he knew how much the duty would be.  He said  250 cedis, the equivalent of about $170.   I don’t think my shipment  was worth that much, and the fact that I was having this conversation in the parking lot with a fellow in jeans and T-shirt, who also asked me how much I wantd for my Subaru Legacy that we were standing beside, helped me realize that I had just been asked for a bribe.

For better or worse, I have had a long-standing personal and professional commitment against paying bribes.  In my experience this has been the position of  Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) and of CIDA where I work, and I am no stranger to waiting out delays required to clear our personal effects upon arrival in other postings because we don’t pay bribes.   I declined the offer of paying the “duty”, saying I preferred to do it properly.   Interestingly, about the same time as we were trying to clear this shipment newly-arrived diplomatic staff at the High Commission were also being subjected by CEPS to unusually long delays in processing their personal effects at the  Tema Port,  in at least one instance there had been an approach that sounded like a request for a special payment.   Despite Ghana’s relatively positive governance image when compared to other African countries, corruption remains a significant development challenge.   Certainly corruption persists within CEPS.

Later that day when I spoke to CHC Admin they said indeed it was not out of order for CEPS to ask for MFA clearance and this was part of CHC Admin’s duties.  It would take a couple of weeks to get it.  Fortunately CHC has the knowledge of the process and people to facilitate this and I was hoping to get my hands on the goods just before Laura and I were scheduled to depart for a two-week Egyptian vacation.  We got the clearance about three weeks later and  TNT came to the CHC to pick up the formal approval MFA and presented it to the CEPS officer at the agent.  By  7PM on the Friday of the weekend we were scheduled to leave it was delivered to our house.   On Saturday I was able to get the parts and vehicle to Opere’s shop under the tree where he, Paani the “welder”, and Eric the electrician were able to work on their respective pieces while we were out of the country.

The implications of the problems that I had with this shipment are not limited to the delay of more than a month.   I now have a much more cautious attitude toward any future shipments and will be more willing to source second hand or more expensive new parts locally rather than importing and risking having to deal with CEPS again.   Fortunately the only offshore things we still need are a few items for expedition outfitting.   I was able to get some from Offroad Egypt(separate post coming), and we should be able to pick up most of the rest of what we need on a shopping trip planned to South Africa at Christmas and bring it back with us.

As I write all the mechanical parts have now finally been installed, Phase I of the electrical work is underway (separate post coming) and Paani has finished the pre-paint body work.

Getting Ready to Paint 1 Picking a Colour

Defenders are basically trucks and usually coloured appropriately truckish.  Maybe it is the military origins honed by years of utilitarian uses.   That is reflected in the LRs one sees around Accra.  Dark Grey, Dark Blue. Dark Green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, in Ghana lately the most popular colour for the rebuilds coming out of Opere’s shop seems to be white.  That may well have been inspired by my colleague Stephane who had his Defender done that colour last year and it generated a great deal of positive comment.   It makes for a very pretty truck.  However, we are looking for something a bit less pretty, more truckish.  Somehow the idea of touring the Sahel region of Africa in a bright white truck that stands out from everything else does not quite seem appropriate.

A great many of Opere’s rebuilds end up white

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After  looking at lots of choices, reviewing colours on-line and going by paint shops to see what they offer  we  shifted our preference a few times.  We hovered on white for a fair bit, shifted to burgundy for a short bit, and then finally settled on  what the Land Rover official colour scheme calls NATO Lightstone.  Right in the military tradition.   In more common terms one might call it Tan, or Caramel.   Some chips we have seen call this Sand, but that is misleading.  The vehicle already seems pretty sand-coloured.   We have chosen, or at least we hope we have chosen,  something darker and more vivid.   This choice was inspired because we saw one drive by (without our camera in hand).  With a white roof and white wheels it will look very sharp, but not so sharp it will look terribly out of place in Ougaudougou or Timbuctu.   We have no photos yet, but here is a neat site that we used to test colours.  Try the Desert Sands in the bottom left-hand corner of the chart, on the 90/110.   https://paintman.co.uk/shop/nato-light-stone-satin/     That is the only way you get to see the colour now because we do not have any examples

                                          

Every tow truck one sees in Ghana is an old Series Land Rover 

 

 

Picking a colour is the easy part.  In Ghana even getting a vehicle painted comes equiped with its own socio-cultural nuances.  I have a “welder” who does the body work and who is responsible for getting the vehicle ready, but only up to a point.  The “sprayer” does more than just paint, but it is really tricky to figure out where the welder’s responsibility ends and the “sprayer’s” responsibility begins.   During the bodywork the welder (Paani – see separate post) went through the vehicle and straightened crooked pieces, replaced rusted parts, punched out and filled dents and sealed any unwanted screw holes.  But when he finished he left the fill sections a bit rough on purpose.   That,  I learn has to be done by the sprayer just before the paint goes on, so it is clean and there is no water that has penetrated the filler.  That makes sense once you learn it, but you have to learn it.  There is a lot to learn, I have never had a vehicle fully painted before and that fact that it is a fixer-upper truck that I want to convert to something comfortable and attractive means I cannot count on everyone else to bring the attention to detail, I have to do that myself.

 

The Idea

Last June I learned that two of my colleagues at the Canadian High Commission in Accra had each purchased older Land Rovers Defenders which they were restoring to take back to Canada with them at the end of their postings.  I was only casually interested until one day Stephane brought his into the CHC grounds.   It was a Defender 110, perhaps 1994, painted white and beautifully restored.

I have no prior knowledge of or experience with Land Rovers.  Over my 30 year development career I have probably driven a million miles in various Toyotas, Nissans, and Mitsubishis,  but rarely did I ride in a Land Rover.   The only occasion I can recall was in the remote and very beautiful Rupunni savannah region of southern Guyana some 20 years ago.  I spent an afternoon tumbling about in the box  of an old Series pick-up, a ride made more interesting by the fact that I and a chain smoking colleague shared the space with a 20 gallon drum of diesel fuel.

The Land Rover has such a classic profile, and Stephane’s restoration was very nice.   He had had the interior redone, and the exterior painted and all the fittings replaced.   Stephane took me out to Legon on the edge of Accra and introduced me to meet Opere, a Ghanaian Land Rover specialist who maintains a “shop”  under a tree surrounded by  old Land Rover shells he has scavenged for  parts to create some quite lovely classics that he rejuvenates under his tree.    Since then I have learned that a great deal of micro-enterprise in Ghana is conducted under trees, which provide shade and protection from the elements.

The Defender got my attention and it was  not long before I was googling for “Landy” sites and thinking about what I might actually do with one if I took the plunge.  Suddenly I began to think of the  destinations that were on our list to see during our time in West Africa in a new light, viewed not via a series of week or two visits via aircraft, but as parts of a more substantive overland trip.  The vehicle could have a purpose beyond just giving me a project to keep me entertained during the remainder of my posting in Accra, we can use it to drive out of here on an overland adventure.

There is no question I was attracted to the vehicle before I thought of the trip.  The Defender has me quite inspired, for both the rebuild and the travel.   In our trip to South Africa in December I bought Africa Overland (Bradt, 2009), which is a great source of tips and ideas for travelling through Africa.  In the section dealing with vehicle makes they list Land Rovers first, with the guarded enthusiasm that is typical.   Most interesting is their recommendation that the best thing is to “…buy an older model, preferably in good condition, and spending some considerable time fixing it up.  How old it should be depends on your mechanical ability, the time and enthusiasm you have, and the depth of your pockets.”

There is another factor that will influence the age of this vehicle and that is whether or not we want to take it back to Canada when we go.   We are allowed to ship one vehicle back at the end of our posting, although these are subject to regular Canadian regulations on safety and pollution standards.  That is unless the vehicle is 15 years old or older, in which case the requirement to meet safety and pollution standards are waived because it is considered antique.   I am not sure that is a good idea, a 15 year old diesel vehicle may have some novelty antique appeal in Canada but it is not going to be practical.   I think most owners of older Land Rovers in Canada probably use them as seasonal toys, storing them in winter and bringing them out to go trail blazing in the spring, summer and fall.  Nevertheless, it is an option.  As to time, I do have lots of that, if not spare time at least lapsed time when someone else can be doing repair and restoration work under my supervision.    My pockets are not that deep, but the work is not expensive here and I could certainly sell the vehicle in Canada for as much as it would cost me to purchase and restore it here.  If we time the pack-up and shipment of our other goods here right we can send it back to Canada at no additional cost to us or the Canadian taxpayer, in the same container that carries our household goods.  We brought our Subaru to Ghana from Canada that way, but we are going to sell it here.

However, when the Bradt Guide was talking about restoration and fix-ups, I somehow think they were addressing an audience in Britain or elsewhere in Europe where the supply of parts and materials, spares and tools, is plentiful, not in Ghana.   I only brought a small toolbox with me from Canada to do household chores: a screwdriver, a couple of wrenches, a hammer.  I do not have a socket set, or any of the heavy duty wrenches that you need to work on a vehicle.   Ghana is not an environment conducive to DIY.  However, what they do have is an abundance of skilled auto mechanics and the labour costs are reasonable.

So the idea is to buy an old beat-up Defender and make it into a functional, comfortable, fully outfitted overland vehicle.

“Land Rovers are always sick but never dead”

“Land Rovers don’t leak, they are just marking their territory”

“Land Rovers last longer than their owners do, but that may be because they are so uncomfortable”.