By: John S. Morlu II, CPA
Welcome to Accra, Ghana — a city where construction never sleeps, cement bags are more popular than smartphones, and the sound of a concrete mixer is your 5AM alarm clock.
You know you’re in Accra when you ask for directions and someone says, “Go past the first uncompleted building, turn left at the second uncompleted building, then stop at the third — the one with the Chinese workers and goats out front.”
It’s the city where rebar rods grow like trees — poking out of rooftops as a sign of either hope or unfinished ambition. Or maybe both.
Construction: National Sport or National Mystery?
Ghana has made construction a national art form. Everyone is building — from your cousin in the village to that uncle who’s been in Germany since Rawlings’ first term. The buildings rise slowly, like a gospel song — one block at a time, year after year, donation after donation.
And the best part? Nobody finishes. It’s like a cultural clause in the building code: “Thou shall not complete thy house until thy retirement or thy funeral, whichever cometh first.”
There’s cement in the car, cement in your food (okay, not literally… we hope), cement in your relationships. If love languages in Ghana included construction, “I bought you a bag of GHACEM” would be marriage material.
Land of 1,000 Foundations
Every street has at least three buildings under construction and five plots with people arguing over who owns it.
- Land guards? Check.
- Family disputes? Check.
- Fake documents printed in full color? Double check.
Buying land in Accra is like dating someone with seven exes still living in the same house — complicated, expensive, and likely to cause blood pressure issues.
And don’t ask where the permits are. You’ll either be laughed at or invited to “come to the office and let’s talk.” That’s code for: bring brown envelope.
Culturally Cemented
Accra’s love affair with cement runs deep. In fact, it’s so strong that even wedding guests now gift bags of cement instead of rice cookers.
You want to prove you’re serious in a relationship? Don’t write love letters — send 10 bags of cement to her father. He’ll cry. Not tears of joy. Tears of “Yes! Foundation money!”
Every month, cement prices change more often than fuel prices. The joke is: you can’t build a house in Ghana — you can only start one. The rest is up to God, your family in London, and your hustle.
Conclusion: Comedy, Chaos & Concrete
But here’s the truth: beneath the rebar forests, the confusion, and the roadside cement palaces lies a people with vision, grit, and unshakable belief in “someday soon.”
- Someday, the house will be finished.
- Someday, the land will be yours (legally).
- Someday, the construction noise will stop — for like, five minutes.
Until then… welcome to Ghana — where the real GDP is Gross Domestic Plastering.
Author: John S. Morlu II, CPA is the CEO and Chief Strategist of JS Morlu, leads a licensed public accounting and management consultancy firm. He has more than 20 years of professional experience in auditing and advisory work, including service as Auditor General of Liberia and FAR and DCAA compliance work at Unisys Federal Systems. The firm’s technology products include AI-powered reconciliation software (ReckSoft.com) and advanced cloud accounting solutions (FinovatePro.com), built for finance and operations teams.