The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah

The biblical Sodom and Gomorrah typified sin in its raw, carnal and abominable form.

Sin was widespread and so deep-rooted that the Lord could not find even 10 righteous men in the twin city.

If He found at least 10, Sodom and Gomorrah would have been saved from the blazing fire that turned the entire city into ashes; courtesy of God’s anger and fury.

Sodom and Gomorrah was quite forgotten since the days of Noah until a slum developed in the Odododiodio constituency of the Greater Accra Re­gion of the Republic of Ghana. It was not named Sodom and Gomorrah out of whim. Some say it is the cradle of sin, another birthplace of the seeds of transgression.

Others beg to differ

Whatever it is, in modern-day Sodom, both the good and the bad co-exist. There are good, righteous, hardworking fellows earning a decent living but have to pass each night in Sodom because foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

In Sodom and Gomorrah today, you’d find civil servants, reverend ministers, businessmen, aspiring politicians, technocrats, polytechnic students and managing directors. You’ll also find robbers, prostitutes, graded pimps, sodomists, small-time pickpockets, magicians, boxers and kpalogo dancers. So you’ll find both good and bad people.

History has always repeated itself. The current Sodom and Gomorrah was burnt down recently but not completely. Certainly, more than 10 righteous folks were found there. So some areas were spared.

The problem now is that, there are plans to resettle residents of the infamous twin city, and one of the reasons is that, the place is so filthy and disease-ridden so much that the continued human existence is deemed not in the interest of any­body.

A new settlement is what the gov­ernment sees as ideal for these peo­ple, more so when the name Sodom and Gomorrah is nothing complimen­tary as a name.

The residents, however, say that they love the place. Their hearts and souls are enshrined in Sodom and Gomorrah, so they won’t move, bull­dozer or not.

The situation recalls the one similar to the people of Tema Mahean who lived at the site where Meridian Hotel is located. To get the site for the hotel, the Nkrumah government had to resettle the indigenes who were rather unwilling.

A bulldozer was brought in to do the job, and the people still feel bitter about it. Their collective soul was uprooted and of course, they left a curse, as some people say. The Meridian Hotel and its present state, similar to a bomb-ridden edifice, may be a living testimony of the bitter­ness of the people.

But the difference between the Tema and Sodom variants – the Tema case was that of an ancestral home with its shrine and roots. Sodom and Gomorrah is a slum that has devel­oped over the years, and you’d find people of various nationalities there. They include Burkinabes, Nigeriens, Ivorians. Some are perchers; others appear and disappear as and when they deem fit.

“It would be a mistake for this government to send us away after we’ve voted for Kufuor for positive change”, one resident has said. “We cannot be sent away like animals.

They must give us time to decide. We support the government, so the government must not go against our wishes and make us miserable”.

Another resident I had a chat with said the government should think about places like Ashaiman (pronounced by many ‘Ashiaman’), because the sins of Sodom and Go­morrah are nothing to be compared to the abominations of Ashaiman.

“I’ve stayed at Ashaiman before and I know the difference. In Ashi­aman you can find every type of criminal. Sodom and Gomorrah is not a crime haven, as others think. It is a residential area for the poor. And if poverty can be said to be a crime, then we are criminals. Otherwise, we are like anybody else,” he said.

The mention of Ashaiman was in­triguing. Ashaiman, also called Hanoi, may be one of the infamous crime cities in West Africa, sharing the infa­my with places like Brooklyn, Harlem and Manhattan in the United States.

But those who live in Ashaiman have very favourable comments about the place. They admit that criminals live there. But the good thing about it is that they don’t commit their crimes in Ashaiman. They go out to sin and come back to roost quietly. After all the township is full of poor people you cannot steal from, they contend.

Yeah, Sodom and Gomorrah is once again about to be obliterated from the surface of the earth. Personally, I do not like the name, and it both­ers me. At any rate, I believe that if the people are going to be resettled, it should be done benevolently and what should precede it is education.

They must be told why it is neces­sary to resettle them. And in reset­tling them, they should be comfort­able – electricity, water, playground for the kids and recreational centres, etc. They must leave smiling, not grumbling and leaving curses behind.

This article was first published on Saturday May5, 2001