Its Services Were Stopped and Its Pastor Arrested. Then the Defective School It Used as a Church Collapsed

• A school building used for church services in Accra New Town collapsed on 29 March 2026
• Three people died and 20 survivors were treated in hospital
• Residents said the structure had defects for more than a decade
• Authorities had repeatedly stopped the services and once arrested the pastor

Three people were killed when a defective school building being used as a church collapsed in Accra New Town, Ghana, during heavy rain on Sunday 29 March 2026, GhanaWeb reported the following day. Twenty survivors were receiving hospital treatment.

The structure belonged to the Accra New Town Experimental School. Residents said it had shown structural defects for more than a decade, which they blamed on contractors using too little cement when it was built. The building had stood unused until a church began holding services there.

Accra Mayor Michael Kpakpo Allotey said local authorities had tried repeatedly to stop the gatherings. “He has stopped them not once, not twice, but they have even at a point arrested the pastor,” he said, referring to the local municipal chief executive. He added that the official “was blindsided by the pastor. They never knew the man was having a church service yesterday.” The pastor was not named in the report.

A resident put the tragedy bluntly: “If the laws were working in this country, this incident wouldn’t have happened.”

The collapse is a stark example of what can happen when a congregation, short of space or money, moves into a building that has not been certified as safe. An empty public building can look like a blessing to a growing church, but without permission, inspection and repairs, it can become a death trap.

Jamaican congregations also sometimes meet in borrowed halls, unfinished structures or old school buildings, especially after storms. The Accra deaths are a reminder that church leaders have a duty of care: know who owns the building, get written permission, have it checked by an engineer where there is any doubt, and never ignore an order from the authorities to stop using a structure.

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