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Parts of the biggest slum in the capital, Accra, infamously referred to as “Sodom and Gomorrah” will by tomorrow be no more.

This is because a taskforce from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, with support from the security services are expected to take earth moving equipment to the area to demolish structures which for years have served as homes for thousands of migrants mostly from the Northern Region.

Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo who confirmed the intended demolition to Joy News said the squatters close to the Odaw river will have their structures demolished.

The threat to demolish follows the June 3 twin flood and fire disaster which claimed more than 150 lives.
Critics have accused officials of the AMA of failing to desilt the Odaw river which serves as a point of convergence for many drains in the capital.

Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo said it is time for one of the biggest culprits-residents of Sodom and Gomorrah- who choke the Odaw river with sawdust and other filthy materials to be removed.

He said city authorities have shown sympathy and love for some of these residents over the years but that sympathy has been taken for granted.

“We have been accused based on the love [we have shown]. We have no time again to waste and there is no better time to start than now,” he told Joy News’ Francis Abban.

But the residents are appealing to the authorities to relocate them. They say they have nowhere else to go if their structures are demolished. Others have also vowed to resist the demolition tomorrow.

Properly referred to as the Old Fadama, the area, the size of about 10 football fields has been home to many migrants who fled the Kokomba Nanumba war in Northern Region in the early 90s.

The area is drenched in filth with many ramshackle wooden structures which serve as homes for the migrants littered across the slum. The area is widely thought to be a den of criminals even though there are genuine hardworking individuals also living at the same place.

The occupation of the land by, and activities of, the illegal settlers have mostly interfered with the progress of the restoration of the Odaw river project which has stalled for years.