Prostitution Prostitution laws in Ghana
Ghana inherited a British-style framework in the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29). Exchanging sex for money is not itself an offence, but a person who persistently solicits or importunes in or within sight of a public place for prostitution commits an offence, punishable by a fine for a first offence and as a misdemeanour after that. Living on the earnings of prostitution, controlling a sex worker for gain, soliciting clients for a sex worker, keeping or letting premises as a brothel and procuring a person to become a sex worker are all misdemeanours. In practice police raids target sex workers and venues, often as anti-trafficking operations, and sex worker groups report arrests and abuse. No reform bill was found.
Legal model
Legal, organisation banned. Selling and buying are legal, but brothels, procuring and organising are criminal offences.
The Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29) does not make selling or buying sex an offence. It criminalises persistent public soliciting (s. 276), soliciting for clients or for other immoral purposes (s. 275), living on or controlling prostitution (s. 274), keeping a brothel (s. 277) and procuration (s. 107). Because sex workers are routinely arrested, many sources describe prostitution in Ghana as simply illegal.[1][2]
At a glance
| Question | Status | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Selling sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | Selling sex is not itself an offence. A person who persistently solicits or importunes in a public place or in sight of one for the purpose of prostitution commits an offence: a fine for a first offence and a misdemeanour for a second or later one (s. 276). A prosecution needs the consent of a superior police officer, though arrest and remand do not.[1] |
| Buying sexual services | Legal | No offence of buying sex was found in Act 29. A client who persistently solicits in or near a public place may fall under the general offence of soliciting for immoral purposes (s. 275(b)), and sex with a child under 16 is defilement whatever the consent (s. 101).[1] |
| Brothels and managed venues | Illegal Criminal offence | Keeping, managing or assisting in managing a brothel, and an owner, tenant or landlord knowingly letting premises be used as one, is a misdemeanour (s. 277). A brothel is any premises, room or set of rooms kept for prostitution (s. 279). Letting a child under 16 live in or frequent a brothel is a separate misdemeanour (s. 273).[1][3] |
| Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping) | Illegal Criminal offence | Knowingly living wholly or partly on the earnings of prostitution, or controlling, directing or influencing a sex worker's movements for gain, is a misdemeanour (s. 274); a person habitually living with a sex worker is presumed to live on the earnings. Soliciting in public to obtain clients for a sex worker (s. 275) and procuring a person to become a sex worker in Ghana or abroad or to join a brothel (s. 107) are also misdemeanours.[1] |
| Advertising sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | No offence aimed specifically at advertising sexual services was found. Soliciting to obtain clients for a sex worker is an offence only in or within sight of a public place (s. 275). Publishing, selling, distributing or advertising obscene matter is a misdemeanour (ss. 280–281), and displaying indecent matter visible from a public place is fined (s. 282).[1] |
The law in detail
Selling sexual services
Selling sex is not itself an offence. A person who persistently solicits or importunes in a public place or in sight of one for the purpose of prostitution commits an offence: a fine for a first offence and a misdemeanour for a second or later one (s. 276). A prosecution needs the consent of a superior police officer, though arrest and remand do not.[1]
Section 279 defines prostitution as including a person offering their body commonly for acts of lewdness for payment, even without ordinary sexual connection.
Confidence: medium. Read in the WIPO Lex copy of the Act as amended to 2003, which gives the first-offence fine as ¢500,000 (old cedis); later sources give the cap as 25 penalty units. The official Judicial Service e-library and the Ghana Legal Information Institute (GhaLII) copies could not be opened. The section numbering in that copy's table of contents (275 for keeping a brothel, 276 for offences by prostitutes) differs from its body text, which is used here.
Checked 30 October 2026
Buying sexual services
No offence of buying sex was found in Act 29. A client who persistently solicits in or near a public place may fall under the general offence of soliciting for immoral purposes (s. 275(b)), and sex with a child under 16 is defilement whatever the consent (s. 101).[1]
Confidence: medium. Whether s. 275(b) is used against clients in practice was not checked.
Checked 30 October 2026
Brothels and managed venues
Keeping, managing or assisting in managing a brothel, and an owner, tenant or landlord knowingly letting premises be used as one, is a misdemeanour (s. 277). A brothel is any premises, room or set of rooms kept for prostitution (s. 279). Letting a child under 16 live in or frequent a brothel is a separate misdemeanour (s. 273).[1][3]
Confidence: medium. Read in the WIPO Lex copy amended to 2003. The definition covers any premises kept for prostitution, so on its face it could reach two sex workers sharing a room; no case law on that was checked.
Checked 30 October 2026
Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping)
Knowingly living wholly or partly on the earnings of prostitution, or controlling, directing or influencing a sex worker's movements for gain, is a misdemeanour (s. 274); a person habitually living with a sex worker is presumed to live on the earnings. Soliciting in public to obtain clients for a sex worker (s. 275) and procuring a person to become a sex worker in Ghana or abroad or to join a brothel (s. 107) are also misdemeanours.[1]
Confidence: medium. Read in the WIPO Lex copy amended to 2003. Trafficking for sexual exploitation is a separate offence under the Human Trafficking Act 2005 (Act 694), which was not opened.
Checked 30 October 2026
Advertising sexual services
No offence aimed specifically at advertising sexual services was found. Soliciting to obtain clients for a sex worker is an offence only in or within sight of a public place (s. 275). Publishing, selling, distributing or advertising obscene matter is a misdemeanour (ss. 280–281), and displaying indecent matter visible from a public place is fined (s. 282).[1]
Confidence: low. Inferred from general provisions. Whether online adverts count as public soliciting, and whether a website hosting them could be treated as living on earnings or soliciting for clients, was not found in any source. The Electronic Communications and Cybersecurity Acts were not checked.
Checked 30 October 2026
Key legislation
| Law | What it does here | In force |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) (as amended up to 2003) Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) s. 107 · ss. 273–277 · s. 279 · ss. 280–282 | Chapter 7 (offences against public morals) covers brothels, living on earnings, soliciting, obscenity and its definitions; s. 107 covers procuration.[1] | 1960 |
In numbers
Estimate quoted by UNAIDS; survey-based, not a count of the sex worker population.
Timeline
- 1960The Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29), later renamed the Criminal Offences Act, is enacted with offences on brothels, living on earnings, soliciting and procuration.[1]
- 16 April 2025Police in Ayamfuri, Central Region, arrest 42 people at two brothels in an operation on drugs and prostitution; some of the 32 foreign women arrested say they were trafficked.[3]
Sources
- Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) (as amended up to 2003). WIPO Lex (copy of the Ghanaian text). legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- UNAIDS Solidarity Fund helps female sex workers in Ghana. UNAIDS, 4 February 2022. intergovernmental · accessed 30 October 2026
- C/R: Police arrest 42 persons for drug peddling and prostitution. Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, 17 April 2025. news · accessed 30 October 2026