For more than three decades, two of Accra’s most strategic waterfronts have been defined not by their potential, but by their filth.
The sprawling waste at Sodom and Gomorrah, and the choked shoreline of James Town Beach have become monuments of urban neglect.
That is why President John Mahama’s directive to the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, to evacuate the waste from both sites deserves unqualified support.
The President has tasked Mr Ayariga to work with his colleagues — the Ministers of Finance, Defence and Roads and Highways — to clear the heaps that have accumulated for over 30 years, and transport them to the Adipa Waste Management Centre, a 200-acre engineered landfill operated by the Jospong Group of Companies (see pages 16&17).
This is not just a clean-up exercise.
It is a strategic economic decision.
Sodom and Gomorrah, officially Old Fadama, sits on prime land at the heart of the Odaw River and Korle Lagoon basin.
James Town Beach sits on an iconic coastline with untapped tourism, fishing and cultural potential.
Both have been locked for a generation by waste, squatter settlements and environmental degradation.
Every investor who has looked at developing the Accra Marine Drive, the Korle Lagoon restoration, or a modern market and transport hub around Agbogbloshie has been confronted by the same obstacle: mountains of refuse.
The announcement that military personnel will be deployed to secure the cleared areas is, therefore, critical.
Past clearance exercises have failed precisely because there was no post-clearance plan.
Squatters returned, refuse returned, and the cycle of encroachment continued. If this intervention is to succeed, it must be the last.
The inter-ministerial approach is encouraging.
Ghanaians have been told that the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has “very interesting plans” for the development of the two areas once cleared, while the Minister of Roads and Highways has committed equipment, and the Defence Ministry, through the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Williams Agyapong, has deployed a senior officer to oversee the operation.
The Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, has confirmed that Adipa has the capacity to receive the waste.
The figures support this.
Adipa can receive more than 3,000 tonnes of waste daily and operates 24 hours.
It currently handles between 1,500 and 1,600 tonnes daily from places like Makola Market.
It therefore has the buffer to absorb this historic backlog.
Effective execution of this new directive goes beyond mere words.
The government must get the logistics right.
The state must determine the volume of waste, the number of trucks, the fuel requirement and the time frame.
The Ghana Highway Authority’s assessment will be crucial.
This will be a major haulage operation through densely populated parts of Accra.
It must be phased, safe and environmentally controlled to avoid spreading leachate and dust to surrounding communities.
More importantly, this must be coupled with a deliberate public education and resettlement plan.
The people living and working at Sodom and Gomorrah are not just squatters; they are part of Accra’s informal economy — scrap dealers, kayayei, food vendors and recyclers.
Evacuation without humane alternatives will simply push the problem elsewhere.
The Daily Graphic urges the government to pair enforcement with engagement — providing alternative trading spaces, sanitation facilities and clear communication that dumping will no longer be tolerated.
There is also a larger lesson here.
The country generates over 12,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, with less than 40 per cent properly collected and disposed of.
Adipa is a model, but one engineered landfill cannot solve Accra’s waste crisis.
We need segregation at source, enforcement of sanitation bye-laws, and sustained investment in recycling and composting.
The fact that private operators like Jospong are willing to voluntarily release trucks and equipment shows that a public-private partnership model can work if it is transparent and accountable.
President Mahama’s order, if executed fully, could mark a turning point.
Clearing Sodom and Gomorrah and James Town Beach is not just about moving waste from point A to point B.
It is about reclaiming prime national assets for development, restoring the dignity of Ga Mashie and the central business district, reducing flooding from the Odaw-Korle system and restoring Accra’s coastline.
The waste has been there for over 30 years.
It cannot be allowed to stay for another 30 years.
The Government has the plan, the site, and the inter-ministerial support.
What is needed now is speed, discipline and follow-through.
Accra must not return to being a city defined by its waste.
It must become a city defined by what it does with its waste.
Let this evacuation be the beginning.
