The Our Water, Our Right African Coalition (OWORAC), has renewed its call for Africa’s water crises to be addressed while exposing the dangers that privatisation and corporate control schemes pose to realising the human right to water.
OWORAC is a network of community leaders, civil society and trade unionists from some African countries who have united in a movement against water privatisation and for a community-centred approach to meeting the needs of the African people through sustainable public water management.
OWORAC commenced its fourth Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation, on Monday, with the theme: “Water Justice Over Profit.”
Every year, the Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation coincides with the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, to serve as a people-centred counterweight to the institutions’ influence over the economic policies of the Global South.
At a press briefing in Lagos as part of the week’s activities, Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), said: “As protests rise across the continent in response to rampant corporate greed, it is imperative for us to examine how this greed impacts even our most fundamental rights and essential services.
“The privatisation and corporate control of water service is an affront to the human right to water and an inexcusable abdication of duty by our governments. Water justice is not about access only, but also about affordability. We encourage collaboration among governments to make water available by way of public-public partnerships.”
Fatou Diouf, Acting Secretary of Senegalese Water Justice Network and Project Coordinator for French-speaking Africa, Public Services International, said: “Privatisation is not the only answer. If we manage public companies well, it will be better for all stakeholders.”
Leonard Shang-Quartey, Coordinator, Africa Water Justice Network, added: “In most cases, the so-called investors are not coming due to the assumed risk. Investors see the human right to water as a risk. Despite their reluctance, governments continue to push the agenda to privatise. This has left us in a stalemate. Therefore, a lot of communities lack water. We continue to call on governments to increase investments in water.”
In a recorded video statement, Neil Gupta, Water Campaign Director, Corporate Accountability, added his voice to support the campaign for water justice.
Dr Ron Daniels, President of Institute of Black World 21st Century, also in a recorded solidarity message said: “We don’t believe water should be privatised anywhere in Africa, or anywhere in the world. Water is a fundamental human right.”
Reading a joint statement from OWORAC members, Sefa Ikpa, CAPPA programme said: “The neocolonial forces of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have been bearing down on the African continent for decades, entrapping states in debt and using this leverage to push anti-people policies which have undermined public welfare and environmental stewardship. Bilateral development agencies, such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), have also begun to exert pressure on states to adopt similar policies, to the detriment of communities.
“The privatisation of essential services, especially water systems, is promoted by these institutions despite the widespread public opposition and ample evidence of its failures both globally and on the continent itself.
“Among these failures are the rising cost of water service, the jeopardised livelihoods and workplace safety of public sector workers, and the deterioration of infrastructure, which the state must ultimately pay for. It is evident that water privatisation schemes are a detriment to the community, the workers, and the state itself. So, we ask, who benefits from this callous commercialisation? Large multinational corporations, such as Veolia and Suez, and the shareholders they serve are the primary beneficiaries of corporate control schemes like privatisation and so-called public-private partnerships (PPP), which extract resources from the continent and funnel them into foreign bank accounts.
“Across the African continent, communities face a variety of assaults on their human right to water from corporations and their backers.
“In Nigeria, bilateral agencies and international organisations such as USAID, WaterAid, the UK’s FCDO, the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), and the Global Water Partnership, among others, have promoted water privatisation ventures. Particularly, support for privatisation schemes and influence on water authorities in Lagos State has been connected to the sacking of hundreds of unionised workers in recent times and this is steering the megacity towards privatisation of the water service.”
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