The government through the Trade Ministry is set to lay before Parliament a Constitutional Instrument (C.I) seeking to restrict the importation of some selected items into the country.
The sector minister, Kobina Tahir (K.T) Hammond has said the items, numbering about 22, include rice, cement, offal (popularly called “yemuadie” in Ghana), and diapers.
KT Hammond who doubles as the Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament (MP) disclosed this while addressing the media on Monday.
“Stomach of animals, bladder and the chunk of intestines (yemuadie), the country puts in an amount of about $164 million towards the importation of these items. We are taking steps to ensure that in terms of rice, there’s no poverty of rice in the country,” he said.
He explained that the initiative is to help streamline importation and boost local production.
“By these restrictions, we are not going to ensure that there’s no food in the country at all; that is not the point at all.
“There have to be some efforts by the government to ensure that we go back to Acheampong’s operation feed yourself. There are about 22 items on the list, one of them, I think, is diapers,” he added.
He further announced the introduction of the Ghana Standards Authority Regulations (GSA) 2023, which also seeks to streamline the manufacturing of cement to ensure competitive pricing.
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