The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has suspended with immediate effect the transit of rice, sugar, cooking oil, spaghetti, and tin tomatoes through approved entry points under the Aflao Collection in the Volta Region.
The GRA issued a notice to all stations and checkpoints, dated February 20, stating that the directive applies to all transit routes at the main and Akanu entry points of Aflao.
“With immediate effect, the following products should not be admitted under the Transit regime through the approved Entry Points under the Aflao Collection (Aflao main, Akanu): Rice, Sugar, Cooking Oil, Spaghetti, and Tin Tomatoes,” he said.
GRA warned that any station or officer who defies the order will face severe sanctions.
“Any Station or Officer defying this simple order will be severely sanctioned,” the statement said.
Officials are expected to enforce the ban strictly, and stakeholders have been urged to comply with the new directive.
According to the GRA, the move is part of measures to regulate transit activities through the border points, though no further details were provided on the reasons for the restriction.
This follows a ban by the government on the land transit of cooking oil through Ghana’s borders, ordering that all consignments must henceforth be routed exclusively through the country’s seaports.
The directive, issued by the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, follows the recent interception of eighteen articulated trucks declared for transit to Niger but suspected to be part of a broader diversion scheme.
Under the new measure, cooking oil consigned for onward transit to landlocked countries will no longer be allowed to move through land border collection points. Instead, all shipments must pass through Ghana’s seaports, where stricter valuation systems, electronic tracking, scanning infrastructure, and layered customs controls are operational.
