Private Cemeteries: A Booming and Lucrative Business in Ghana

If you are abroad and you are at a loss as to what business to invest in Ghana, I will advise you to go and acquire acres of land and start a modern cemetery business. This is one of the most profit making businesses in Ghana today. We all know that in Ghana death is taken as seriously as life itself – if not even more so. In Ghana the style in which you bury your dead, especially your parents, is a measure of your status or stature as a man or woman and a testament to how well or not, the dead have raised their children. When individuals live in penury, they are completely ignored and neglected by their relatives. As soon as the person dies, he is given a?statesman's burial. What is the point in this? The amount of money spent for the burial could have helped the dead person when he was alive.


This phenomenon in Ghanaian culture is well known. Our musicians have made songs about it since ages and it is a favourite theme of the plays put up by the concert parties of bygone days and, today, our Ghanaian made movies. The sad thing is that we have not learned anything and are even increasing the reach of this practice. Today, the rich very often purchase their own resting places while they are alive. This is one of the reasons why cemetery business is on the ascendancy in Ghana.



In this article I will mainly discuss the private cemeteries in Accra. The operators of private cemeteries have exploited the situation of inadequate space for the burial of the dead in Ghana. In Accra, for example, these operators charge exorbitant prices for a burial space. Some private cemeteries charge between GHC26,000 and GHC36,000. The cheapest you can get at other private cemeteries range between GHC2500 and GHC3500. The difference in prices depends on the grave and the location. If you are buried in a place that cost only 2500, then you were probably a pauper when alive or your relatives are lightweight!


All these private cemeteries advertise their location and prices in the newspapers, on radio, television and big billboards. Even coffins, funeral and burial arrangements are all advertised in the social media. An example of a private cemetery is the plush one located at Shiashie in Accra.
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Private cemeteries continue to thrive because of the persistent desire of bereaved families or individuals to honour the dead. Some also choose expensive cemetery sites in an effort to boost their ego, status or social standing. If a very important person dies, the members of the bereaved family know that they will make enough money during the funeral celebration to cover the costs with something left over. Paying GHC36000 to bury their dead will, therefore, not affect them.
Many people prefer the private cemeteries because, unlike the public cemeteries, the graves at the private cemeteries are less likely to be plundered by thieves due to tight security. The guarantee of safety makes these private cemeteries the number one choice and consequently helping the business to boom.


When you pay that huge amount for a burial space for a dead relative, you have not completely bought the space, you have only rented it. The maximum period you can have your dead buried there is twenty years. Within this period, the bereaved family can lay flowers on the dead person's grave, as is done in Europe and north America, when and as they want. This practice will cease when twenty years expire. The place is then sold to another family. This does not come as a shock or a surprise to the bereaved family because before a dead person is buried, a memorandum of understanding concerning the number of years a burial space can be rented, is reached between the bereaved family and the cemetery operators. Besides, after 20 years, the main movers in the family that rented the space may be dead and the remaining relatives may not be too bothered about honouring a person dead some quarter century ago.


It is a well known fact that Ghana has a well preserved cemetery and therefore the elite and the very rich families didn't mind choosing the public cemeteries like Awudome in Accra or Tafo cemetery in Kumasi. However, according to the last census taken on the number of people buried at the Awudome cemetery, one thousand two hundred graves were recorded. There is little or no burial space left and that is why many are turning to private cemeteries. The tomb spaces are going very fast like hot cakes. Always having at the back of their minds the profits they will make?during?the funeral, the bereaved family goes the extra mile to access a loan from the bank both for the funeral and for tomb space in a private cemetery. Banks in Ghana have devised special loan packages for the funding of funerals.


If you want to start a private cemetery business, I have a few tips for you. Apart from the immense profit, the value and importance of private cemetery business cannot be discounted. To start a private cemetery business, one must first familiarize oneself with the industry. It is important to have a complete overview of how a private cemetery business operates. There are tons of resources at your disposal which you must try to make use of. You should be able to read on the subject in order to get a clearer picture of what will be involved, what works and what does not work. You should be able to devise a management plan while you find out the necessary legal papers?you must?procure to start a private cemetery business. Make sure you assess your finances and inquire about how much you will need as a start-up capital. Do a careful study to figure out how long it would take you to get a return on your investment. If you cannot do it yourself, find someone to prepare a detailed finance allocation plan for you. If you are abroad, you must bear in mind that every business endeavor requires a huge dose of time and energy. Your physical presence at the incipient stages will be very necessary to ensure success.

Written by Stephen Atta Owusu

Author: Dark Faces at Crossroads

Email: stephen.owusu@email.com