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The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahaifor, has been petitioned by Hempire Agric Ghana Ltd over what the company describes as excessive and impractical proposed fees for cannabis licensing.
In a formal letter dated October 8, 2025, and addressed to Parliament House in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of Hempire Agric Ghana Ltd, Nana Kwaku Agyemang, urged the Deputy Speaker to intervene before the proposed fee structure is ratified.
The petition raises concerns about the fees put forward by the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) under the amended narcotics law. According to the company, the proposed charges are disproportionately high and risk excluding local farmers and entrepreneurs from participating in the emerging cannabis industry.
Hempire Agric argues that the non-refundable registration fee of USD 1,000 for community applicants and USD 5,000 for companies merely to obtain application forms is unreasonable for what it describes as an initial stage of the licensing process.
The company further contends that the proposed cultivation licence fees ranging from thousands of dollars per acre to tens of thousands per hectare depending on scale could become some of the highest in the world if approved without revision.
It also criticised what it called multiple overlapping charges, including an annual regulatory fee equivalent to 20 per cent of the licence cost, separate security bonds and a permit fee per hectare, describing the cumulative effect as punitive and economically stifling.
Additionally, the petition questions the proposed escort fee of USD 2 per kilometre for armed accompaniment, arguing that industrial hemp with THC content below 0.3 per cent is non-psychoactive and presents minimal diversion risk.
Hempire Agric maintained that there has been insufficient stakeholder consultation on the proposed fees, despite repeated appeals for review and moderation. The company warned that the current structure could undermine investor confidence and contradict government efforts to make Ghana an attractive destination for business.
The firm has therefore requested a meeting with the Deputy Speaker to further discuss its concerns and explore practical solutions that would ensure fairness, national inclusion and economic viability in the development of Ghana’s cannabis sector.
Hempire Agric Ghana Ltd said it remains ready to provide comparative data and analysis to support Parliament’s deliberations on the proposed licensing framework.
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Yaw Boagyan
