Old Fadama

Old Fadama is the biggest and most notorious slum community in Ghana. Jeff, one of the guys living at Rosa´s compound with us, is a PhD student from Wisconsin and has done extensive work in Accra looking at slum politics in Old Fadama. Today, he took Laura and me there. 

The streets leading to the community are lined by scrap metal businesses and onion vendors; Old Fadama houses the largest onion market in Accra. We get out of the taxi and follow Jeff into the slum. At first it doesn´t shock me; the shacks and streets closest to the road are well established, and most have electricity and a sewer system that seem to support yesterday´s heavy rainfall quite well. We stop and wait for one of Jeff´s friends, Abdallah, who he has been working with closely throughout his research. 

We follow Jeff and Abdallah deeper into the slum. The sewer system disappears and rain water form pools and rivers on the mud path. We pass a shower facility - Jeff explains that, at 30 pesewas per shower, those in the shower business are some of the richest people in the slum and can make up to 200 Cedis a day. 

Beyond the income level structure, there is also a much deeper hierarchy driven by connections and patronage. Slum bosses who wield a great amount of respect from the community use their prestige to influence politicians who want to secure the votes of the some 80,000 people living in Old Fadama. Because the slum is an illegal settlement  politicians and party groups cannot offer any public good to the people, as this would acknowledge their presence on the land. Several eviction notices have been posted - and executed - in the past, but are toned down now because of the upcoming December elections. To secure votes, politicians are relying heavily on patronage and are giving jobs and bursaries to those who can influence the communities votes.

Jeff and Abdallah take us through an area that has recently been burned down. Not two weeks have passed and new structures already stand completed where the ashes of the previous homes still lie as a reminder. After the fire, all structures now have to be built of cement. We walk through the area, passing people who are in high spirits despite their loss. The plots of land are getting smaller, the paths leading through them narrower. 

When we reach the outskirts of the slum, the situation in Old Fadama becomes undeniable. Trash and waste pile high on the borders of the community and flow further into the distance. The people are smiling at us and calling out greetings. Jeff remarks that the people in this area always seem friendlier than in the rest. We walk along the side, and Abdallah tells us about his hopes that the government will provide waste containers for the community. Many people in Ghana judge Old Fadama on the mounds of waste, but few realize that the community has little choice but to pile their trash there. 

Before we intend to head back, Abdallah gets a call from Philip Kumah, who is extremely respected in the community, and is another man that Jeff has been working with. Abdallah hangs up and tells us that there has been a murder, and that Kumah wants us to come meet him. Uhh..

We head back to I don´t know where - the slum is huge and I can´t tell whether we passed through the narrow streets before or not. We squeeze by a crowd of people standing around a small TV in a narrow hallway. Some men are fashioning make-shift drainage systems in the mud with broken shovels. Small children are playing with tires and a deflated soccer ball. After a while, we get to the area where Kumah asked us to meet him. He is no longer there, but the dead body of a man who had been found murdered that morning lies on the ground covered with a white sheet. His feet are stretched out from underneath. 

Abdallah explains that the man is most likely a thief. Stealing is seen in the community as one of the worst crimes. Because few people trust the police, many claim that they can only seek justice in killing those who steal, as they are unwanted in the community. In Old Fadama, thieves are worse criminals than rapists. He says that the murder of thieves used to be more common, and now happens only infrequently; Jeff had never encountered anything like it. The reduction in killings is only because there are fewer thieves, however, not because their mindset has changed. 

We didn´t stay for long, and headed back to find Mr. Kumah in his office. He runs some organizations that seek to empower women in the slum, and is also a tailor and makes pants for Jeff. He is working hard to create a voice for the slum and bring justice to the community, and I hope he can find a way.