Health and Privatization of water supply in Ghana: Lessons for Nigeria
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In Ghana with a per capita GDP of just US$ 1.00 per day, the World
Bank and IMF have been calling for the privatization of water as a
cure to access problems. But according to a recently released "Report
of the International Fact-Finding Mission on Water Sector Reform in
Ghana.", downloadable at:
http://www.citizen.org/documents/factfindingmissionGhana.pdf
the results are not promising. Rates of water-borne diseases often
increase during privatization because those who can't afford the sys-
tem's water are forced to rely on unsafe, alternative water sources.
Currently, unsafe water and poor sanitation contribute to 70 percent
of diseases in Ghana, the report stated and the proposal to privatize
the system is unlikely to provide more access as IMF loans require
higher water fees every time domestic currency depreciates.
Nigeria's civil society and policy audience may well recall that the
market driven reform policies/concepts promoted under privatization
("Full cost recovery", "User fees", "Subsidy removal".) all "failed"
to promote better health in Africa and the World Bank/IMF have both
admitted to this failure recently. So why push the same failed poli-
cies in case of water? The answer lies in "Profit - seeking" for Mul-
tinational corporations.
Nigerians may well start bracing themselves or start organizing
against World Bank/IMF induced water privatization and use lessons
evident from the ongoing privatisation of power (NEPA) that privati-
zation does not readily promote beneficial service efficiency as much
as it propels rate hikes well beyond affordable earnings of the citi-
zenry, The major beneficiary of privatization of utilities in devel-
oping countries are large multinational utilities contractors - domi-
nated in the case of water, by the French firms Suez and Vivendi
Critical comments welcome.
A Odutola
CHPSS
Lagos, Nigeria
mailto:chpss_abo@yahoo.com
--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: afro-nets-help@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org