Minister proposes Water Fund

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Dr. Freda Prempeh, has proposed the creation of a dedicated fund to support the water sector. 

The water fund, she explained, would be used for projects that would accelerate the attainment of universal access to water across the country in line with the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal (SDG) six.

"The water fund is crucial because as it stands now, we all rely on Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL) and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) for water.

We rely on donor support for our water sector, and looking at the economic challenges confronting us, we need a dedicated fund to deliver water services," she said. 

Dr Prempeh stated this at the opening session of a two-day performance review meeting organised by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources for the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector.

She added that because all sectors and entities such as bottling, mining, agriculture and energy companies relied on water to operate, a dedicated fund would ensure sustainable harnessing of the resource for the diversified purposes.

"And for me, the way to go is to leverage on some of these huge companies whose operations affect and contaminate our waterbodies to support the fund," she said.

Performance review

The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) was established in 2017 and clothed with the responsibility to implement water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector policies and coordinate activities of agencies under the sector.

The performance review meeting was meant to assess the performance of the ministry in relation to the progress made in the sector, the challenges and the way forward.

The meeting held on the theme "WASH for socioeconomic transformation,” brought together stakeholders in the WASH sector and representatives of ministries such as Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Education, Works and Housing, as well as the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the School of Hygiene.

It is expected that a comprehensive report and actionable recommendations to improve the WASH sector would be made at the end of the two-day meeting. 

Sanitation Authority

In 2019, the government announced that a National Sanitation Authority would be set up with a sanitation fund to help coordinate and fund the activities of the WASH sector.  

When asked what had become of the National Sanitation Authority, Dr Prempeh said the proposal for the authority was put before Cabinet but because of some challenges, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions, it was withdrawn.

"But we are going back with it and hope that this time, it will find space and be placed before Parliament for approval.

The minister added that while processes were ongoing for the sanitation authority, a secretariat would be created to coordinate WASH sector activities.

Again, she said processes had begun with stakeholders at the national and local levels to get water guards in all parts of the country to protect waterbodies.

She also called on all stakeholders to play an active role to end illegal mining and other activities that pollute waterbodies.

Collaboration

The Director-General of the NDPC, Dr. Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa, said investment in the WASH sector was critical because SDG Six was central to the development of the country.

He said improved access to WASH service would promote development in other aspects of the economy.

For that reason, the NDPC boss underscored the need for collective efforts by all stakeholders to address the causes of water pollution, particularly, illegal mining.