Accra is building upwards at an extraordinary pace. Sleek apartment towers with ambitious names—A-Heights, B-Towers, C-Residences—are sprouting across the capital’s most affluent neighbourhoods, from Cantonments and Labone to East Legon and Ridge. Many come with gyms, pools, rooftop lounges, and concierge desks. Yet drive past these gleaming structures after sunset, and a strange silence hangs over them. The number of lit windows on most evenings could be counted on one hand.

This paradox, luxury apartments multiplying while remaining largely empty, their prices defying the basic economic logic that excess supply should drive costs down, is at the heart of a provocative social media essay by Kofi Hamilton Amekudzi. In a Facebook post that has generated hundreds of reactions and dozens of detailed comments, Amekudzi asks a question that has quietly troubled many Accra residents: who is buying these homes, and why do so many appear to be used as little more than “vaults with balconies”? Read the full article below.

ACCRA, A CITY WHERE VAULTS HAVE BALCONIES
Drive through Accra these days, and you will see apartments shooting up like missiles. They rise. They glitter. They acquire ambitious names such as A-Heights, B-Towers, C-Residences, D-Pinnacle, E-Apex, F-Summit, etc. It appears the developers are running out of synonyms for the word “high”.

In Cantonments, Labone, Airport Residential. East Legon, Osu, Nyaniba, Ridge, and beyond, familiar bungalows are giving way to vertical structures determined to redefine Accra’s skyline. The developers will tell you that the land on which stood a single bangalow must be maximised.

Most of these apartments include gyms, swimming pools, rooftop lounges, concierge desks, and many other admirable amenities, included to enhance their appeal. I would not be wrong to say the building of apartments has become a competition in Accra. And yet, for all the furious construction, a strange silence hangs over these buildings after sunset. Drive past at 8pm and count the number of lit windows. You will surely not need the fingers on both hands.

Therein lies the puzzle that is not easy to explain. The apartments are everywhere but are largely empty, and yet their prices continue to ascend like a BA jet leaving Accra International Airport. Ask any first year economics student what happens when supply outstrips demand? Clearly, the Accra apartment story defies the principles contained in Economics text books.
So, who is buying an apartment that would most likely be empty for most of the year?
The rumour mill, never shy in Ghana, has produced its answer. Many of the apartments are being used to “wash” money. For the avoidance of doubt, “washing” money does not make dirty money cleaner. Omo and Key soap have no role to play in this kind of “washing.”

It simply means tucking “suspect funds” away from the prying eyes of the formal banking system and converting them into brick and mortar. This, the rumour mill insists, is the reason why the prices do not respond to the gravitational pull to drop. “Suspect money” is increasing and hence the demands are high.

An individual who has invested unspeakable sums into a three – bedroom unit in Cantonments is in no particular hurry to sell. The apartment is not a home. It is a vault. Yes, a vault with a balcony view. There are also Ghanaians in the diaspora (and also in Ghana) who have found the interest rates whispered by the banks to be unattractive. They find the interest on treasury bills and fixed deposits to be inadequate. They are also aware of the historic adventurous relationship between the Cedi and the Dollar. After careful thought, they prefer to keep their hard-earned resources in brick and mortar.

This brings us to a question no one is asking. Does this rush to invest in apartments suggest a falling trust in our banking system? Is it possible that the banks would have been the main beneficiaries of these resources going towards real estate entities if the citizens trusted the banks?

The sad part of this story is that the increase in apartments is not reducing the housing deficit in Ghana primarily because many Ghanaians cannot afford these apartments.
A young teacher in Madina who pays rent cannot afford these apartments. A nurse in Korle – Bu searching for a one-bedroom cannot afford the $120K the developers are asking for a studio apartment. These apartments were never built for such people. The price tags start where their dreams end.

And so Accra’s Towers would continue to multiply. Gleaming, expensive, half-lit, half-occupied, and yet, only half-explained. They will remain monuments of wealth we cannot fully explain, and this whispers to us that “unexplained wealth” is still very prevalent in Accra.

One day, maybe an audit will reveal the names of all the owners of the apartments in Accra. The earth may shake that day. The owners of the dark rooms will be revealed in the light.
Until then, Accra will continue to be Accra. The apartments will continue to rise. The more they rise, the more they will be empty. The more they are empty, the higher their price tag ascends. The more you think about this logic, the more you will struggle to make sense of it.

In a nutshell, Accra reminds us that vaults have balconies, and theories from economics textbooks do not make sense on the streets. Good day.

Unlike previous major Ebola outbreaks, this rare strain has no approved therapeutics or vaccines.

Health authorities have confirmed that the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda is caused by the Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) , a rare type of Ebola disease that has no approved therapeutics or vaccines.

Here is what makes this outbreak different, based solely on information from the World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

1. A Rare Strain

Although more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have taken place in the DRC and Uganda, this is only the third time BVD has been reported. The rarity of this strain means that the medical countermeasures developed for more common Ebola strains, such as vaccines and antiviral treatments, do not exist for BVD.

2. No Approved Medical Countermeasures

According to the WHO, BVD has no approved therapeutics or vaccines. This stands in contrast to other Ebola outbreaks in recent years, where ring vaccination and experimental treatments were deployed. Without these tools, health authorities must rely entirely on non-medical interventions.

3. Reliance on Basic Outbreak Control

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that the virus spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, contaminated materials, or those who have died from the disease. In the absence of vaccines and drugs, the WHO has advised:

• Immediate isolation of confirmed cases
• Restricted national travel for those exposed
• No international travel until 21 days after exposure
• Cross-border screening and screening at main internal roads

4. Risk of a Larger Outbreak

The WHO has said the outbreak could be much larger than currently reported, citing the high positivity rate of the initial samples and the increasing number of suspected cases being reported. As of Saturday, the Africa CDC reported 336 suspected cases and 87 deaths. The DRC accounts for all except two of those cases, both reported in neighboring Uganda.

5. What Countries Should Not Do

The WHO explicitly urged countries not to close their borders or restrict travel and trade. It warned that border closures could lead to people and goods making unmonitored border crossings, which would make the outbreak harder to track and contain.

Bottom line: The Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak is different because it involves a rare Ebola strain for which no vaccines or therapeutics exist. The response depends entirely on isolation, contact tracing, travel restrictions, and screening — without the medical tools that helped stop previous Ebola epidemics.

A prominent Nigerian lawyer and social media influencer known as Celebrity_Lawyer (De_Monarch1) has opened up about an unexpected occupational hazard: years of handling customary divorces left her with a deep-seated fear of commitment, a condition she identifies as gammophobia.

In a candid video shared with her thousands of followers, the lawyer recounted a pivotal moment at a customary court years ago. A chairman, observing the young lawyer at work, issued a warning:

“I should learn to separate my personal life from my professional life. That somehow, if I mix my emotions with my professional life, it’s going to affect my love life.”

At the time, the lawyer admitted she did not understand the warning. But over the years, the daily immersion in marital breakdowns, the disputes, the betrayals, the legal dissolutions, took a psychological toll.

“Over the years, I realized that I had commitment issues,” she said. “I became scared of marriage, commitment.” She described her automatic response to romantic interest as a defensive shutdown: “If you come and tell me, ‘Oh, I like you, let’s see how it goes’… I’m like, this marriage thing, what is the problem? I beg, I beg, I beg, carry your problem and be going.”

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A post shared by Celebrity_Lawyer(De_Monarch1) (@celebrity_lawyer1)

Comfort in Singlehood, Until a Wake-Up Call

For a long time, the lawyer found comfort in her single status, describing it as a modern blessing.

“Being single is a blessing. You get to do anything you want to do. You don’t have to consider anybody. You’re considering yourself,” she explained.

However, a recent tragedy forced a profound shift in perspective. A neighbor battling cancer passed away, and the lawyer observed who remained by her side until the end.

“The only people beside that woman was her husband and her children, not her employers, not her colleagues, not even her sisters,” she recalled. “Her husband and her children.”

That image became the catalyst for questioning her long-held fears. She concluded that avoiding marriage simply because of the failed marriages visible around her was a form of deception. “

“That’s the devil trying to cheat you,” she stated. “Devil is trying to cheat you without you knowing.”

Now, by consciously opening her mind to healthy marriages she had previously overlooked, the lawyer says she has experienced a revival of hope:

“I might get married one day. Yeah, I will get married one day. And I feel like marriage is a very beautiful thing when done right.”

She offered a balanced final message, quoting scripture:

“Even the Bible said one shall chase 1,000, two will chase 10,000. So if it’s a healthy marriage, you’re going to achieve more than if you are single. But if it’s a bad marriage, it’s better that you are single than be in a bad marriage.”

The lawyer’s confession has since sparked widespread conversation online about the unseen mental health impacts of legal professions, the fear of commitment in modern dating culture, and the changing perceptions of marriage among young African professionals.