The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders has stated that the government’s newly introduced Publican AI platform at the ports could arbitrarily increase import duties by assigning higher values to goods.
Eric Amoah Amponsah, the Head of the Research Committee of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, said the platform’s valuation method risks departing from globally accepted standards.
The system, rolled out by the Ministry of Finance and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), is used for customs valuation and tariff classification at the country’s ports.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, April 9, 2026, Mr. Amoah Amponsah stressed that international trade rules require customs to rely on invoice values provided by importers.
“What the World Trade Organisation (WTO) seeks to do is what we have started, which is that every invoice computation has to be based on the invoice value. If I, as an importer, decide to buy chairs to the tune of $10,000, what customs by law is supposed to do is to value those products based on the invoice I have received from the shipper,” he said.
He argued that the AI system instead selects values independently, which could distort duty calculations.
“Now, what this system is doing is that it chooses the value at will from where it decides and then strikes a median,” he said.
“For a classic example, assuming you buy a bottle of water from the mall for GH¢5. When you buy the same from a four-star hotel, the same bottle goes for GH¢50. What this AI has been allowed to do is to choose the price that it deems fit.”
He warned that this approach could significantly increase the cost burden on importers.
“So, if I buy the water from the mall at GH¢5, the AI can decide the value of the hotel, where I didn’t buy from, and then calculate duties on it. What it does in the long run is that it shoots basic duties and value payments up the roof,” he added.
SOURCE: CITI NEWSROOM
