The lessons of biblical Sodom and Gomorrah have not been lost on Christians.

One of the lessons is about the pillar of salt and its bearing on Christian conduct and attitudes in general. Lot's wife turned into that pillar of salt and has since not turned back into human form. May be her kith and kin are still waiting for her!

What is now likely to happen in Sikaman in December is a replay of the 'pillar of salt' episode at Sodom and Gomorrah, Accra, via the Republic of Ghana. Yes, it is going to happen this December, so better witness it.

There is a Sodom in Ghana and since there can be no Sodom without a Gomorrah, Ghana's Sodom has a twin component called Gomorrah. When you take a trip to the area in one of the suburbs of Accra, there is no demarcation of Gomorrah from Sodom. There has been no need for territorial considerations. It is an empire governed by indiscipline. Early morning black polythene bags in the area contain 'nonsense material'.


Indeed, Sodom and Gomorrah is a slum area with its own sub-culture. Surprisingly, those who live there have a jingoistic devotion to the place, although it stinks to the heavens. They love the scent!

In some areas, the stink is such that it has befriended the human nose. The nose no longer has the capacity to discern what is stinking and what is not, because the perennial 'lavender' overwhelms the olfactory organ and renders it totally hopeless. Such a nose has to be delivered in church before it can function properly again.

Believe me, Sodom and Gomorrah has been the saviour of many homeless persons and they owe the place an honour. When a shoe-shine boy arrives in Accra from the countryside, he saves money from his daily 'jackass' and rents a one-room hell-hole at Sodom and Gomorrah. That is where life begins.

To start with, he is welcomed by a beautiful lady with pointed breasts. The shoe-shine boy has never seen anything like that before. Pointed breasts on a silver-platter? Good heavens!

Of course, the lady only wants a place to perch and the latest green-horn in the area is just the likely candidate to accommodate her. Sure, there is room for two and at night, the two shall become one. The novice has the grand opportunity to examine the pointed breasts more closely and realises that he has been tricked - 419. It is nothing but foam.

The flat breasts notwithstanding, the lady has other things to offer. After all, half a 'loaf is better than bread'. In fact, the lady is most likely a sex worker. When the shoeshine boy takes tro-tro to Accra Central to earn income, the lady takes the opportunity to service some day-time clients in the one-room wooden structure.

She earns enough to cook tutu and palmnut soup for herself and the new hustler who would have by now understood his room-mate and ex-officio lover too well to disagree on issues of common interest.

Next door is a new lawyer; he is still looking for a chamber to practice and has not earned enough to hire a chamber-and-hall uptown, so the cheapest he can get is in Sodom. Once he gets a chamber and money flows in, he can acquire a plot at Kasoa, build some two rooms and move in quietly.

Next to the lawyer is OJ who loves reggae and plays it all night while blowing marijuana. Well, the lawyer knows his rights but in Sodom and Gomorrah, nobody has rights. Who born dog by mistake! Your rights end at your doorstep. Who is the lawyer to go and complain that reggae music is banned at night or smoking marijuana is prohibited?

Next to the disc-jockey is an akpet seller. She also sells 'jot' and gorro. You are likely to find different brands of local gin that can entertain your eyeballs. There is also non-stop music including 'Osookoo One One', courtesy A. B. Crentsil There is a chop bar adjacent specializing in banku and okro.

There are likely to be two kayayos next door. At night their boyfriends visit and you are most likely to hear them busily fornicating. Nine months later, a child is born and the boyfriends vanish for good. Man no fool!

Go on the tour and check on an electrician with his family next door; a student of the University of Ghana who lives off-campus; a mason with homosexual tendencies and a real estate agent with criminal antecedents. It goes on and on. You'll find in Sodom and Gomorrah CEOs of shops that sell only batakari, freelance journalists, aspiring.

MPs, pastors and evangelists

In short, Sodom and Gomorrah is a cornucopia of all types of humans and vocations, a mini cosmopolitan enclave that has defied every authority under the earth to disband to seek other areas of shelter.
The place has more than once been burnt down by faulty electrical wiring. The wooden structures that turned into ashes were miraculously replaced overnight. No waste of time.
The Sodomites have more than once been threatened with bulldozers, but it hasn't yet worked. Now the new Accra Mayor says it will work this time. According to him the state has built a new place of shelter for the inhabitants at Adzen Kotoku in Ga West. •

He said the persistent dumping of human excreta and refuse in the Korle canal by the squatters was undermining work on the Korle Lagoon Ecological Project (KLE), for which government spends 5,000 Euros daily to dredge. What a bother!

A few residents Sikaman Palava spoke to a few years back said there is no way they can leave the place. One woman actually swore that it would be over her dead body. She says she'd prefer to turn into a pillar of salt rather than leave Sodom and Gomorrah. We are waiting for this event which should be recorded live by CNN.


By Merari Alomele

Email: merarix2001@yahoo.co.uk. Also: www.meraria/omele.com