Nation Haggles Over Fate of Accra’s Sodom And Gomorrah

By : Francis Kokutse
The Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah is being re-enacted in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. This time, however, God is not playing any role, it is the city officials who want to raze this sprawling slum on the periphery of the central business area of the capital.

The government has, however, decided to back the residents against the city officials; throwing into confusion the work on the Accra Waste Management Project, which was planned to improve the city's sanitation problems.

Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities in the Bible where the people lived immoral lives and as a result, “the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens” (Genesis 19:24), “turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly.” (II Peter 2:6).

No one knows exactly why the place is so named in Accra. Awudu Musah, who claims to have lived at the place for more than 15 years says: “I have heard people say that the name is a bad one in the Bible, but for me, it has been a home.”

The informal settlement known as “Sodom and Gomorrah” in Accra

True, Accra's Sodom and Gomorrah is a bad place. “You have all sorts of people here- pimps, gun-runners, drug addicts, homosexuals and what have you,” added James Opoku, a trader at the Agbogbloshie market, just by the slum.

Last month, Accra Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije announced that the slum residents would be evicted to enable the contractors on the project continue with work on the third phase, to reclaim land along the Korle Lagoon, which runs through parts of Accra and turn it into a tourist hub.

Without the eviction of the residents, the project cannot continue. A frustrated project supervisor, Mr Daniel Ayidzoe, told the media that attempts to dredge a canal that passes by Sodom and Gomorrah were being frustrated by the residents' daily pollution.

“As result,” he said, “the canal must be dredged every two weeks to allow the flow of water.”

He therefore urged the government to urgently relocate the residents lest the huge amount of money invested in the project goes to waste.

But just after the mayor had announced the planned eviction, deputy Information minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told an Accra FM station that the “slum would remain untouched”.

Some critics of the government claim that it is the fear of losing support among some of the residents, who are mainly from the north of the country.

The residents belong to various ethnic groups and it has also become the battle ground for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Forced eviction
Others have also joined the fray to condemn the Accra mayor's decision. Amnesty International (AI-Ghana) and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) claim that plans by the city official is wrong because it would put hardship on some 55,000 people who would become homeless.

AI-Ghana and COHRE have sent a petition to President John Evans Atta Mills expressing concerns about the threatened forced eviction of more than 40,000 residents.

But, Greater Accra Regional minister Nii Armah Ashietey says accepting the status quo, would be an affront to the country, adding that, “we will not allow an illegal activity to become legal”.

Mr Ashiety said: “It is a huge problem and we will take that bull by the horn and we in government, and the Accra Metropolitan Authority will be doing the citizens of this country a lot of good by tackling this problem without fear or favour.”

AI-Ghana and COHRE decision is based on the fact that in July, director of the Accra Metro Public Health Department, Dr Simpson Boateng, admitted that a new site at Adzen Kotoku that was to be prepared for the residents, could not accommodate all of them.

They accordingly reminded the government of Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that for forced evictions or relocations to be considered as lawful, they may only occur in very exceptional circumstances and all feasible alternatives must be explored. If and only if such exceptional circumstances exist and there are no feasible alternatives, can evictions be deemed justified.”

Human rights lawyers
They also argue that, “the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-Based Evictions and Displacement, which address human rights implications of development linked evictions and related displacement in urban and rural areas, require that states must ensure that evictions only occur in exceptional circumstances, and must give priority to exploring strategies that minimise displacement.”

The residents themselves are being assisted by a group of human rights lawyers to stop the city officials from evicting them.

As these arguments continue, it is becoming clear that, Accra's Sodom and Gomorrah may not see the brimstone promised to rain on it yet by the city officials any time soon