Govt to relocate Sodom and Gomorrah

11/9/09

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru

THE Government has decided to either relocate or compensate squatters of Sodom and Gomorrah in Accra, contrary to an earlier declaration by the Greater Accra Regional Minister that the squatters would be evicted without any form of compensation.
Consequently, the Government has directed the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to engage the squatters to identify those eligible for relocation or compensation.
A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who was answering questions on government’s position on the supposed eviction of the squatters of Sodom and Gomorrah at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said “the Government wants to maintain a human face to the exercise”.
The periodic press conference dubbed: “Matters Arising”, which is a platform for the Government to give Ghanaians a status report on the Better Ghana Agenda of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, focused on government’s commitment to the fight against drugs, the Youth in Agriculture Programme and support for educational sector.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, in his visit to Sodom and Gomorrah last Thursday, said the slum was a risk to national security, and indicated the Government’s resolve to evict squatters without relocating them or giving them any form of compensation.
However, Mr Ablakwa said, “The Government takes exception to attempts to criminalise poverty and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah,” since “crime can be found in political parties, churches, mosques and society in general.”
“Some of us have not been happy with reports on Sodom and Gomorrah”, he intimated.
Mr Ablakwa said many of the squatters had fled conflicts in some areas in the northern parts of the country to settle at Sodom and Gomorrah, while others were born at the slum.
He said many of the squatters are engaged in productive ventures.
Therefore, he said, “The Government cannot get up and bulldoze the slum down just because they are lesser Ghanaians.”
“We cannot say that human beings should be thrown out as outcasts. They will come back to haunt us,” he stressed.
The squatters have asked the Government to try to relocate them, since they do not have the financial means to rent rooms or have any intention to return to the north.
Some people have cautioned the Government not to rush in evicting the squatters, since it could lead to the creation of smaller slums in parts of the city.
Human rights activists also feel that the Government must, of necessity, try to relocate the squatters, since they have a right to shelter. They have blamed the Government for allowing the people to live there for long and assumed some rights to their settlement there.