Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Sodom, Gomorrah rebuilds

By Stephen Kwabena Effah
Wednesday, 24 January 2007

Five days after a fierce fire gutted Sodom and Gomorrah, a slum in Accra, the residents have started rebuilding the wooden structures to serve as homes.

When the Times visited the affected area yesterday, some residents had finished putting up their structure, made up of plywood, and painted them after the lands were filled with saw dust. Others were seen busily at work.

A fierce fire last Thursday swept through the area and destroyed property worth millions of cedis.

Most of the residents who could not start work immediately have erected wooden pillars on their plots to prevent other people from encroaching upon them.

Those who spoke to the Times,accused the government of being insensitive to their plight.

They said that although some government officials visited the area after last Thursday’s disaster, no assistance has been received.

One of the victims, Mohammed Hamdu, said Nii Tackie Commey,Member of Parliament for Odododiodio, Isaac Amo, Director of NADMO and Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations had inspected the area after the disaster and said "We cannot understand why the government has abandoned us to our fate."

In November last year, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing,Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, announced that government has acquired land at Adjen-Kotoku near Amasaman to relocate the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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