Sodom and Gomorrah slum dwellers institute welfare package

A section of the Sodom and Gomorrah slum

Residents of Ghana's biggest slum, Sodom and Gomorrah, have formed a welfare group to support themselves financially.

The initiative is spearheaded by an association at the slum, the Old Fadama Development Association.

A Spokesperson for the association, Mr Philip Kumah, told Joy News the initiative aims to minimize the hardships residents are likely to suffer in the event of an eviction.

It appears residents of the slum are coming to terms with the possibility they would soon be evacuated despite their protestations.

They had been hoping the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) would relocate them or compensate them after their eviction.

But city mayor Alfred Vanderpuije has maintained he has no such intentions despite central government's opposition to a forced eviction.

Meanwhile human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the manner in which city authorities are dealing with the slum dwellers at Sodom and Gomorrah.

The group says government would drive the people into further poverty by forcibly evicting them from their communities without alternative arrangements.

Amnesty rather wants government to ensure access to social amenities such as water and electricity as well as equal justice and protection for them.

The executive director of Amnesty International Ghana, Lawrence Amesu said the agency is "against forced eviction without any compensation or relocation.

He said Amnesty International has written a petition to the AMA with copies to the Local Government Ministry and the Presidency, urging the authority to reconsider its decision to evict the slum dwellers.