If you’ve ever driven through Trassaco, East Legon, or Cantonments and wondered, “Ei, who are the people building all these expensive houses?” you’re not alone. The truth is, many of these properties are not built from clean hustle.
A new report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) confirms what many Ghanaians have long suspected: our real estate sector has quietly become a dumping ground for dirty money. Between 2014 and 2023, at least $48.8 million (about GH¢650 million) was laundered through properties and land in Ghana, most of it in Accra. And it’s not just drug lords or fraud boys behind it. Politicians, pastors, and even government officials are deeply woven into the story.
Money laundering is simple in practice. It happens when someone makes money illegally, through fraud, drugs, or corruption, and tries to make it look clean by investing it in real estate. Houses and land are perfect for this because they are expensive, easy to hide under other people’s names, and often purchased in cash, which leaves little or no trail.
The GFI report paints a sobering picture with real-life examples. The Menzgold scandal, for instance, did not just drain people’s savings. Some of the funds were sunk into plush homes at Trassaco and hundreds of acres of land, amounting to over $33 million worth of property linked to the scheme. A well-known pastor and his wife created EL Real Estate and other front companies to lure nearly 900 unsuspecting investors with promises of land and houses.
In the end, they walked away with over GH¢23 million, some of which went into luxurious homes. The scandal involving the former Minister of Sanitation, Cecilia Dapaah, also features prominently. She was found with $1 million and €300,000 in cash stashed at home, some of which her housemaid and accomplices allegedly stole and used to buy houses in Accra and Tamale.
She is further accused of secretly conducting property deals under the alias “Nana Yaw Ode.” Then there was Nayele Ametefe, the convicted cocaine trafficker, who owned a $1.6 million East Legon mansion later confiscated by the state, and the late Forestry Commission boss, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, whose will revealed plots of land in Achimota Forest and Ramsar Sites, lands believed to be public property, held under the names of companies and associates.
The methods are as concerning as the cases themselves. Buyers often hide behind relatives, friends, or shell companies. Most transactions are in cash, creating no paper trail. Beneficial ownership laws exist but are rarely enforced, and even though the Real Estate Agency Act was passed in 2020 to regulate the sector, the Real Estate Agency Council has not licensed a single agent.
Meanwhile, a new frontier has opened: real estate purchases using cryptocurrency. In Accra today, websites openly list properties for sale in dollars and Bitcoin, yet Ghana has no clear rules to monitor or regulate this, leaving the door wide open for more abuse.
You might think this has little to do with ordinary citizens who are just trying to pay rent, but it affects everyone. When criminals flood the market with dirty money, property prices soar. Ordinary Ghanaians saving for years to buy land or build modest homes are pushed out, while rent costs climb beyond reach.
Lands meant for public use, like forests and wetlands, end up in private hands. The more illicit wealth shapes the housing market, the less accessible it becomes for honest, hardworking people.
The GFI report insists that change is possible if the right steps are taken. Real estate agents must be licensed, illegal operators prosecuted, and large property purchases forced through the banks instead of cash. Databases must be linked to reveal the true owners of properties in real time.
Cryptocurrency deals need urgent regulation, and politicians’ asset declarations must be made public before and after they serve. As Maxwell Kpebesaan Kuu-ire, Policy Analyst at GFI, noted, Ghana’s laws are good on paper, but in practice the systems are too weak to stop the flow of dirty money.
Ghana’s real estate market should be a place for families to build homes and dreams, not a haven for stolen wealth. The time has come to shine a brighter light on who is buying what, and with whose money.
This article is based on Global Financial Integrity’s 2024 report titled “Ghana’s Open Secret: Why Dirty Money in the Real Estate Sector is a Reality, Not a Myth.”
Original Authors: Maxwell Kpebesaan Kuu-ire, Philip Nyakundi Gichana, and Dennis Kabia
Visit www.gfintegrity.org to read the full report.
