Government urged to reject donor influence on water delivery

Accra, July 28, GNA - Mr Edem Asimah, Chairman of the Select Committ= ee on Water and Sanitation, on Thursday urged government to determine its own water delivery systems for the people and not allow donors to impose their conditions on us.

He said over the years various governments had failed to stop donors from imposing conditionalities on the water sector and this had negatively affected the quality of water delivery in the country. Mr Asimah, who is the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, was speakin= g at a stakeholder seminar organized by the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the water and sanitation (CONIWAS) in collaboration with Water Aid, Ghana on the rights to water and sanitation in Accra. The seminar, which was on the theme: 93The right to water and sanitat= ion in Ghana: A national action plan for implementation" was to initiate effo= rt towards the adoption of a national action plan to implement the right to water and sanitation in Ghana.

Mr Asimah also charged officials of the Ghana Water Company to come ou= t with innovative means to improve water delivery. He urged the government to invest heavily in the water sector since most of the investments into that sector are from the donor agencies, addin= g that this does encourage adequate water production and delivery to the mass of the people. Mr Ben Arthur, Executive Secretary of CONIWAS, said even though Ghanaians have the right to demand for water and sanitation services from state institutions it should not be misinterpreted that the services should be free. He said every right exercised by the people came with a lot of responsibilities, which Ghanaians must not gloss-over. Mr Arthur explained that some of the things, which prevented people from exercising their rights to water and sanitation, could be from the social inequality in the system.

He said the government had a responsibility to initiate measures to ensure that something was done to protect people who could not afford the water. Mr Arthur said government had the task to ensure that people have access to good drinking water and at reasonable prices. He stated that the Coalition had already presented a memorandum for th= e adoption of the rights to water and sanitation to the Constitutional Review Committee.