By Ajoa Yeboah-Afari
Summary of Part 1: Early in June, 2026, I had my daughter (‘D’) in the UK send me a small package by DHL. It contained two mobile phone holsters or phone wallets, two small packs of address labels (each about the size of half a sachet water and priced at £3.99), and two loose sheets of address labels.
One of the phone holsters was meant to be a trendy gift to be given to my cousin, ‘J’, at his birthday party on June 27. (A phone holster is a pouch or case to attach on a belt, or has a strap, for hands-free carrying of the phone.)
That was the second time I was shipping a small package by DHL. With the first last year, a similar package, there was no demand for duty.
On June 11, DHL Ghana sent me a message that my package had arrived and would be delivered during that week. I was elated; I had a gift for the celebrant! However, to my consternation, soon afterwards, DHL Ghana called to inform me that Ghana Customs Service (GCS) was demanding that I should pay duty before the package could be delivered to me!
Therefore, the DHL Ghana agent suggested that I should come to the airport and explain to Customs what was in the package! I refused to go because: the package had been packed in the UK under DHL supervision; secondly, Ghana Customs had every right to open it and check the contents. It didn’t include phones; besides, I had not been asked to pay duty the first time.
Alternatively, he added, DHL Ghana could clear it for me for a fee of GHȼ300. I declined.
I informed D about the totally unexpected development.
She in turn indicated to DHL that rather than pay any duty, the package should be returned to her. Then came the astounding information from DHL Ghana: GCS was insisting that even if the transaction was cancelled, Customs required a letter explaining why, as well as payment of a CANCELLATION FEE OF GHȼ1000!
Noticeably DHL distanced themselves from the unbelievable developments. D wrote: “DHL say they can’t see any outstanding Customs fee on their system. But it shows that a broker has been contacted.”
“A broker is an individual or a firm that acts as an intermediary, connecting buyers and sellers to execute a transaction in exchange for a fee or commission” (from a reference source).
What?! A ‘broker’ for that minor, transaction of little monetary value?!! Why a broker for a package whose contents cost less than £50?
And I guess that all this while, a ‘hostage’, namely a small package with the name of a certain Ms AY-A has been gathering dust on a GCS shelf, perhaps along with other ‘duty demand hostages’.
Continuation Of My October 20 Article
August 28
Me: Any update from DHL?
D: The last email said DHL Ghana have abandoned the shipment.
Me: Abandoned as in thrown away?
D: This is the language they used.
October 26
Me: Any update from DHL?
D: Nothing from them. By now they have closed the case.
My Reflections
What a perplexing state of affairs! The unfairness of it!
Yet, in 2025, similar small package, same DHL office and no duty requirement. If Ghana has a new policy, one would have thought that GCS would have informed DHL so that DHL could alert customers about it.
But then this is Ghana where departments, agencies, and institutions can rely on the implied national motto, ‘the customer has no rights; the customer is always wrong’. And even when one wants to halt a surprise duty requirement, an explanation is demanded; and there is a ‘cancellation charge’, in this case GHȼ1000 – much more than the cost of the transaction itself!
And why “a broker” for this minor shipment?
I wonder what other customers have been going through!
Who dreamt up this nightmarish policy to frustrate unsuspecting customers?
Incidentally, on June 27 cousin J did get a gift from me, though unfortunately, the one originally meant for him had become a ‘duty hostage’! And evidently it will continue to remain so for the unforeseeable future!
As at the time of writing this, the stalemate continues; the package remains in the custody of the GCS.
⃰ ⃰ ⃰
A Ghana Post Shocker: ‘Export Duty’ On ‘Documents?
A second recent incident, regarding an equally, strange new requirement of duty payment by another state institution, Ghana Post (GP), has left me wondering whether we’re currently in a stealth tax era.
On October 5, 2026, I went to my local post office to post funeral brochures to four relatives in the US, featuring a family funeral; no letter enclosed.
To my astonishment, while calculating the cost of postage, the friendly counter clerk wondered aloud if she should find out how much duty, too, I was to pay!
I had left the envelopes open and had sealed them at the counter; so, she knew what each contained – which she herself had described on the receipts as “document”.
Clearly, they had no commercial value, I protested! Why then talk about ‘duty’?! She offered the explanation that the duty was a recent requirement of US Postal Service, not Ghana Post.
For the record, from time to time I have posted single documents, or a book, to family and friends abroad, including the US. I have never had to pay duty, only the cost of the postage.
On October 16, still puzzled, I went back to the post office to get a clear understanding of what appeared to be a new postal regulation.
To my utmost surprise, not only did she confirm it, she added that after I left that day, to ensure that my packages would be delivered, she had paid the duty on my behalf, GHȼ8 each; thus, a total of 32!
She explained that apart from the US, some other countries now require duty payment on documents considered important. However, she added, some countries don’t apply it, including the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland.
She cited the example of a recent occurrence, a customer whose posted ‘document’ had been returned because no duty had been paid!
I was dumbfounded, so much so that I forgot to refund the ‘duty’ she had paid on my behalf; a debt I returned later to settle.
But how come GP signed on to this outrageous policy? And Ghana Government and the GRA accepted it?
Why are minor transactions involving international borders attracting duty – even when there is no evidence, or likelihood, of commercial intention.
Of course, I imagine that many factors are considered before a new tax is introduced. But if this duty on single documents was rejected by some countries, why did Ghana accept – especially at a period when, reportedly, fewer people are patronising GP services?
And it’s not even about the amount of duty; it’s the principle. How on earth has it become a requirement that now even a funeral brochure being posted abroad requires duty payment? Something of purely sentimental value, not commercial. Where is the people-centred aspect?
And I have always thought that duty applied mainly to imports, commercial transactions!
Why an ‘export tax’ on personal communication?! Presumably, next to attract duty will be foreign-bound letters, personal correspondence!
Another Example: Recently, a friend who is a university professor, too, encountered a GP duty payment demand regarding a single book someone had sent him. In his words: “The post office wanted to tax a book a friend had sent me. I told them to read it. A week later they called me to pick it up without the tax.”
I’m challenging the Ghana Post Company Limited to come out with a convincing, rationale for inflicting this new duty on the public – and if this is what Ghana Post needs to improve its fortunes!!
Ghana Customs, Ghana Post, Ghana Government, why these concerning measures?
Is it that overzealous officials are misapplying new policies, or that the Government is introducing new taxes ‘Nicodemously’ to make up for revenue losses from some earlier ill-considered tax cancellations?
Anyhow, I pray that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the state agency responsible for assessing and collecting taxes, can ASAP step in, as done with the recent controversy over mobile phones allowance for arriving passengers, and throw light on these new duty demands, too!
More importantly, one hopes that GRA can review and put a human face on them.
So GRA, this is an SOS!
