3 MOST DIRTIEST SETTLEMENTS IN GHANA.

The Greater Accra has the most slums in Ghana. In Accra physical development “runs faster” than planning. There are more areas, especially peripheral areas that are basically unplanned or where inadequate planning is carried out by the landowners. The problem has contributed to the haphazard development and slum conditions in some areas of Accra. Here are the 3 dirtiest settlements in Ghana; all located in Accra.

Sodom and Gomorrah

Sodom and Gomorrah is a settlement of about 50,000 low income inhabitants. The settlement is located north of the Accra Railway Head office and is situated along the old Timber Market Road. The settlement spills over to the Alogbloshie market on the east and shares a 600 meter perimeter area with the banks of the Korle Lagoon. Sodom and Gomorrah is a very filthy settlement and a menace in the city of Accra.  Mosquitoes abound in that area because the anopheles mosquito thrives in filthy waters. The stench from the many streams of gutters within the settlement constantly competes with the smell of foods the inhabitants cook and eat. Frequent flooding occurs in the rainy season leaving patches of stagnant water wedges around the camp. This settlement is now ranked the most toxic place on planet earth.

Mensah Guinea

Mensah Guinea is an illegal settlement area with high criminal activities, high level of cholera cases, high incidents of prostitution among others. It is located just behind the Arts Centre in Accra and labelled as one of the areas surrounded with filth. The structures in this settlement are mostly occupied by squatters coming to the capital city from all of Ghana. The area is being blamed for the recent cholera outbreak in the metropolis because the people there live under unhygienic conditions. Reports also suggested, Mensah Guinea recorded 16 deaths from the cholera outbreak. The highest recorded among other suburbs. Mensah Guinea slum is also a hideout for criminals, who attacked innocent citizens in the night, especially, the snatching of bags from women and the threat of death.  

Abuja

Abuja can be located near the CMB market in the Central business district and opposite the Kantamanto Railway Station. There are no permanent structures and no planning permit is required to put up temporary structures; the temporary structures are made of anything from wood to paper and are largely occupied by head potters and petty traders. Water and sewerage systems are non-existent and whiles most inhabitants virtually step in fecal matters and sewers on their way to their bedrooms others literally sleep in it. An outbreak of any communicable disease in that camp will not only turn deadly and spread throughout Accra and the rest of the country but will be extremely expensive.

Inhabitants in these settlements come from every part of Ghana. There are Kaya girls from the north and shoeshine boys from the south; petty traders from the east and unemployed youths from the West. These settlements are true reflections of the failure and neglect of government.  These squatters have now crowded into these miserable areas of the capital city, without much law to guide them, these people have built a community that has helped lift them out of poverty. But because everything they do is haphazard, unplanned, and illegal, hence have become a problem for the rest of Accra. These places causes floods, harbor armed robbers, and thwart hundred-million-dollar infrastructure projects. Even as dwellers in these slums increases they have been constantly threatened with destruction.