Ghana has significantly broadened its crackdown on border smuggling, extending a land transit ban that initially targeted cooking oil to cover nine categories of consumer and industrial goods, including rice, sugar, textiles and pharmaceutical products.
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson issued the expanded directive on Monday following a meeting with Acting Commissioner of Customs Aaron Akanor and senior leadership of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Under the new policy, rice, sugar, flour, cooking oil, pasta and spaghetti, canned tomatoes, frozen products, textiles, and pharmaceutical products will no longer be permitted to enter or transit Ghana through land borders and must instead be routed exclusively through the country’s seaports.
The move builds on enforcement action taken in February, when GRA customs officers intercepted 18 articulated trucks at the Akanu and Aflao border posts. The trucks, carrying 44,055 packages declared as goods in transit to Niger, were found moving without the mandatory customs human escorts required for transit consignments. Revised assessments placed the unpaid tax exposure from that single interception at GH¢85,306,578.33.
By routing the affected goods through seaports, customs authorities will be able to apply stricter valuation checks, cargo scanning and documentation requirements, significantly reducing opportunities for smuggling and tax evasion.
In a parallel administrative reform, Dr Forson ordered the recentralisation of the Customs Technical Services Bureau (CTSB), restructuring it as a single centre for customs valuation and intelligence sharing. The directive also mandates expanded use of the Publican Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to detect discrepancies in trade declarations and improve compliance monitoring in real time.
The minister issued a clear mandate to all relevant departments within the GRA to enforce the new directives without exception, describing the measures as essential to closing revenue leakages and stabilising Ghana’s fiscal position.
