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DAM-L FProposal to Privatise GHANA'S water/LS (fwd)
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Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 09:28:06 -0700
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: FProposal to Privatise GHANA'S water/LS
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The following is a declaration from NGOs and civil society and labor
groups in response to the possible privatization of water supply in
Ghana. The forum was run by an NGO called the Integrated Social
Development Centre (ISODEC).
THE ACCRA DECLARATION ON THE RIGHT TO WATER
19th May, 2001
At the end of 4 days of debate during the National Forum on Water
Privatization in Accra, Ghana, which took place between the 16-19th
of May, we the undersigned declare as follows:
? We are a diverse group of individuals and organizations drawn from
various parts of the country, and from other parts of Africa, Europe
and the United States; involved in the private, public and voluntary
sectors and working at varying levels of society.
? We are united by the following common principles, beliefs and values:
o That water is a fundamental human right, essential to human life to
which every person, rich or poor, man or woman, child or adult is
entitled.
o That water is not and should not be a common commodity to be bought
and sold in the market place as an economic good.
o Water is a natural resource that is part of our common heritage to
be used judiciously and preserved for the common good of our
societies and the natural environment today and in the future.
o Water is an increasingly scarce natural resource, and as a result
crucial to the securities of our societies and sovereignty of our
country. For this reason alone, its ownership, control, delivery and
management belong in the public domain today and tomorrow.
o The public sector is legally and constitutionally mandated and
designed to represent the public interest. The essential purpose of
the private sector on the other hand is to make profit not to promote
the public good. Any public benefits arising from the private
sector's activities are incidental not designed. As a result, the
private sector cannot be trusted with the public interest.
o Citizens have the right to effectively participate (as
distinguished from being informed) in the shaping of public policies
which fundamentally affect their lives such as the control of water,
and that government has a responsibility to enforce this right.
o Community participation in the management of water systems is
valid/legitimate, essential and beneficial to the overall
effectiveness in affordable and sustainable water delivery.
o Water management policies should be designed to ensure social
equity such as gender equity, public health and environmental equity.
Guided by the above stated principles, we commit to:
? Forming and promoting a Ghana National Coalition Against the
Privatization of Water herein called "The Ghana National CAP of
Water" which will be a broad coalition of individuals and
organisations committed to the above principles and to the following
objectives:
o To conduct a broad-based campaign to ensure that all Ghanaians have
access to adequate and affordable portable water by the year 2010.
o To ensure that the right to water is explicitly guaranteed under
the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
o To ensure that the ownership, control and management of water
services remain in public hands.
o To promote public awareness and debate about the privatization process.
o To promote alternative solutions to the problems militating against
universal access to water including problems of public management
efficiency.
We recognize:
? The important role that the local private business sector can play,
and should play, in partnership with communities, Ghanaian artisans
and experts and local government in ensuring efficient and effective
supply of water services.
? The inability of the Ghana Water Company Ltd (formerly Ghana Water
and Sewerage Corporation) over the years to provide efficient and
effective services resulting in public frustrations and some loss of
faith in the company. However these perceived and real failures can
only be appropriately understood within the context of the broader
failure of governance and democracy over the years encompassing a
wide range of institutions including the security services, the
judiciary and many more. It is unlikely that the acceptable solution
for the failures of these institutions will be to privatize them.
? The severe shortage of investment in the water sector required to
deliver adequate and affordable water to all. Whilst the severity of
this resource problem is itself debatable, it has nevertheless led to
solutions resulting in heavy dependency on foreign creditors
(especially the World Bank) which has in turn compelled the country
to accept rigid conditionalities that have limited our options for
financing and reforming the water sector.
? We recognize the close link between access to water and improved
public health in view of the fact that nearly 70% of all diseases in
Ghana are currently water related.
We reject:
? The view that privatization (the participation of foreign
transnational corporations) is the appropriate solution to the
problems bedeviling our water sector.
? The view that "to be private is to be efficient, and to be public
is to be inefficient"
? The view that the public sector, in this case the GWC Ltd, is
incapable of being reformed to deliver water services efficiently and
effectively to all.
? The view that the participation of communities in the management of
urban water supply is not feasible and cannot be efficient.
? The commodification of water.
? Efficiency solutions which result in the violation of social and
environmental rights and justice such as the rights of workers,
women, children and the preservation of the natural environment.
? The World Bank imposed policy of charging rural and small town
communities an upfront contribution to capital cost. This policy
discriminates against rural and small town dwellers as it does not
apply to those who reside in large cities. The policy has also
resulted in excluding poor communities incapable of paying from
enjoying their right to consume portable water.
We call upon:
The Government of Ghana:
? To reverse the decision to put the privatization process on a
fast-track and to reconsider the broader decision to invite the
participation of foreign companies into water sector. Instead, the
GOG should investigate approaches which enhance and promote local
businesses in cooperation with communities, local government bodies
and the GWC Ltd.
? Publish the terms guiding the bidding process as well as the
profile of the companies currently pre-qualified to bid.
? Put all relevant documents in the public domain, including World
bank mission, project and evaluation reports, the so-called Stone and
Webster Report and/or the Transaction Advisor's Report etc.
? Conduct a country-wide public debate on options for reforming
sector, including but not limited to private sector participation.
? Review the budget with the view to prioritizing allocation in
favour of the water sector.
Parliament
? Exert pressure on government to allow for broad debate and a
possible review of the current decision to privatize.
? Embark on wide-scale consultation with their constituencies and
civil society in general.
? Support a process of constitutional and legal reform to secure the
rights of all persons to portable water.
The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
? Make the Right to Water central to their campaign on the right to life.
The TUC, the PUWU and Organisations of working people.
? Be at the fore front in the struggle for the right to water, and
our right as a nation to keep our public utilities within the public
sector.
? Continue to work towards greater efficiency, accountability and
good governance in all of our national life including the water
sector.
? To oppose the mortgaging of our water resources to foreign
multinational companies, with proven record of the oppressions of
workers rights and the promotion of corrupt and corrupting practices
in other jurisdictions.
?
Women's Rights Organisation
? To recognize and promote the right to water as crucial to
addressing gender inequality and repression
The GJA and the Media Houses and Practitioners
? To call for and support an informed and broad-based debate on the
water privatization agenda and its effect on the right to water by
all Ghanaians.
Religious Organisations, and all other sectors of Civil Society.
? To raise the moral voice on the right to water and to lend their
varied media to popular education and debate on the effects of water
privatization.
Ministry of Health
? To join the campaign to ensure access to safe, affordable water as
a fundamental aspect of the commitment to improve the public health
of the nation.
Donors, Creditors, Including the World Bank
? To de-link external assistance and soft loans to the condition to
privatize our water systems.
? To commit to promoting true national ownership of policies as
expected under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper processes
currently being actively promoted by them. This requires, among
others, respecting genuine national decisions which may not be in
consonance with their opinion.
? To fulfill the commitment made by the Ghana World Bank resident
Representative, Mr Peter Harrold, at the National Forum on Water
Privatization, to make the eradication of guinea worm the number one
priority. This will require that public health, rather than cost
recovery determine investment in water services.
We commit ourselves, under the banner of the Ghana National CAP of
Water to pursuing these demands and commitments to their logical
conclusions. We believe that under the new democratic dispensation we
will be one with government in promoting zero tolerance to
corruption, democratic participation, transparency and
accountability. We, like the government believe that these are
important tenants of democracy and good governance and are crucial to
ensuring social justice and reducing waste.
--
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network <'})))>><
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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