Global Policy Forum

An international fact-finding mission on plans to 'reform' the water sector in Ghana has made its conclusions public before the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF. The mission was composed of prominent officials, experts, trade unionists and members of civil society and the private sector. They travelled to Ghana last April to meet government and representatives, parliamentarians, business as well as representatives from donor countries, the IMF and the World Bank.

The mission's report concludes that "the current Private Sector Participation (PSP) proposal is not the optimal option for ensuring expanded access to clean and affordable water for the people of Ghana". It calls for "open dialogue and consultation with a broad representation of stakeholders regarding alternative approaches to expanding access to clean and affordable water", pointing out a number of shortcomings of the current plan which is to divide Ghana's urban water systems into two large concessions to be leased to two different companies. The World Bank and the IMF have repeatedly pushed privatisation, leading a coalition of Ghanaian NGOs to complain that "much of the current reform process has been propelled by the World Bank and some bilateral donors using their lending and aid as punitive levers".

Key shortcomings of the water reform plan identified by the fact-finding mission include:

· increased cost-recovery will reduce access by low-income consumers;

· there is no plan for ensuring access to low-income consumers;

· investment priorities and lack of capital are likely to privilege wealthier communities and make significant expansion to unserved areas unlikely;

· the separation of water and sanitation services reduce opportunities to address public health problems;

· the Public Utility Regulatory Commission's mandate is weak and IMF loan conditions interfere with PURC's independent regulatory function; and

· the great majority of citizens and civil society organisations, who will be directly affected by the PSP proposal, were unaware of its basic components and were not involved in the decision-making process; etc.

At the London launch of the report, a representative of the government of Ghana said the report was not conclusive and convincing and argued that poor people would be better-off in the new scheme than in the current situation where they have to buy water from tankers at a very high price. The report of the fact-finding mission reinforces Ghanaian civil society's demands for a debate about alternative options for improving the country's water system. The government of Ghana however has insisted on its commitment to complete the PSP scheme by March 2003, a scheme civil society organisations say is "the result of very deft political manoeuvrings by a consortium of donor countries committed to promoting the interests of their own corporate citizens".

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