Our Water Our Rights Africa Coalition (OWORAC) has demanded that African governments increase funding and investments in the water sector to ensure improved access to water across the continent.
The group also demanded an immediate halt of all plans to privatize the water sector.
The demands were made during an international hybrid press conference to declare the opening of the 2024 Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatization themed ‘Water Justice Over Profit’.
In his welcome remarks, Mr Oluwafemi Akinbode, the Executive Director of CAPPA, explained that governments must adopt “a participatory approach to water governance and the development of roadmaps to water problems must involve the communities that are affected.”
On behalf of OWORAC, Akinbode also demanded that there should be an “expanded outlook on water justice beyond access to include affordability and quality”; and the African governments should pursue Public-Public Partnerships (PUPs) while promoting good governance and improving labour relations in water utilities.
Neil Gupta, the Water Campaign Director at Corporate Accountability (CA) in his solidarity message shared that the fight for water justice is rooted in the fight for democracy itself.
Gupta said “we need our government to put the needs and rights of the many over the greed of the few. Water privatization is a glaring example of what happens when we put corporations and their profits over the fundamental needs of communities.
“Examples from all over the world show that when corporations take control of water systems, water bills rise to unaffordable levels, service becomes increasingly unreliable, infrastructure is neglected and workers face threats to their safety and livelihoods.”
Fatou Diouf, the Acting Secretary of Senegalese Water Justice Network also buttressed that privatization has proven to be bad for the economy, for Africans and that is why OWORAC is organizing to resist water privatization in the continent.
She appealed to journalists to use the media to appeal for a halt of water privatization which has not been profitable, but rather denying people to their fundamental right.
Sefa Ikpa, Programme Officer at CAPPA also noted that “water justice, and social justice more broadly, requires us to prioritise public welfare over private profits. A participatory approach to water governance and governments’ commitment to public solutions to the continent’s water challenges are necessary for making progress towards the realisation of the human right to water across Africa.”
The Week of Action against Water Privatization, which coincides with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings, will emphasise the rising demand across Africa for democratic control of public utilities, particularly water, and an end to the privatisation that prioritises corporate profits over the basic needs of communities.
The Week of Resistance will also focus on bolstering community power and pan-African solidarity, facilitating spaces for communities to directly engage and share their demands and aspirations for improved water governance with water authorities.
Other speakers at the hybrid international press conference are; Leonard Shang-Quartey, Coordinator, Africa Water Justice Network (AWJN); Dr. Ron Daniels, President, Institute of Black World (IBW); Geoffrey Kabutey Ocansey, Revenue Mobilisation Africa (Ghana); Oumar Ba, Confédération de Syndicats Autonomes du Sénégal; Pascal Bekono, African Centre for Advocacy (Cameroon); and Gideon Muya who represented Anne Maine of Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya.