ECOWAS For All comes to Makola Market - what traders can ask officials today
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes its ECOWAS For All sensitisation campaign to Accra's Makola Market on Friday, 23 October, with on-site clinics from Immigration, Customs and Port Health officials. Here is what the campaign offers traders, and the questions worth asking.
By Ernest · 23 October 2026
This is a one-day market engagement, not a new policy. Bring your practical questions on customs documentation, immigration requirements and import clearance - officials say recurring problems raised will be documented and referred for follow-up.
What is happening at Makola today
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are at Makola Market in Accra on Friday, 23 October 2026, for the latest stop of the government's "ECOWAS For All" public sensitisation campaign, MyJoyOnline reported on 22 October. The engagement is aimed at traders and other market-based business operators, and focuses on cross-border trade, the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), customs procedures, immigration requirements, import clearance and business opportunities within the ECOWAS region.
The campaign, organised with other ministries, departments and agencies, was launched on 2 October 2026 under the theme "Bringing ECOWAS Closer to the Citizen: Promoting Awareness, Participation and Opportunities for Regional Integration."
What traders can get on the day
According to the Ministry, participants get direct access to officials from the Ghana Immigration Service, Customs and Port Health, among other institutions, through interactive clinics. The clinics are expected to take questions on travel requirements, customs documentation and lawful regional trade procedures. The Ministry says recurring challenges raised by traders and transport operators will be documented and referred to the relevant institutions for follow-up.
The engagement also covers market-specific guidance on border procedures, cargo, health requirements and transport operations, and highlights entrepreneurship and small-business opportunities within the region - with a focus on market women, women-led trader groups, importers and exporters, cross-border traders, freight and logistics operators, transport unions, artisans and small and medium-sized enterprises. Young people, apprentices, youth-led businesses, market leaders, civil society and the media are also expected to take part.
Why it matters for Makola traders
Makola sits at the centre of Accra's informal and cross-border trade, where goods move daily between Ghana and its West African neighbours. For the traders who actually make those journeys, the practical value of a scheme like the ETLS depends on knowing the paperwork: which goods qualify, what customs asks for at the border, and what immigration requires of the traveller. Today's clinics are a rare chance to put those questions to the officials who run the systems, in the market itself rather than at a ministry office.
Before you go - and if you miss it
If you trade across borders, the useful questions are the specific ones: your goods, your routes, your documents. If you cannot attend, the Ministry says the campaign continues beyond Makola as part of the broader ECOWAS For All programme, and the same agencies handle queries through their own offices - the Ghana Immigration Service for travel and stay requirements, and Customs (Ghana Revenue Authority) for goods and clearance.