As the 2024 Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation kicked off on Monday, October 21, 2024, activists across the continent have condemned attempts by governments to price water out of the reach of common citizens.
Speaking at a press conference to mark the event, the Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi said it was unfortunate that corporations are being allowed to determine how citizens access water on the continent.
He said this was dangerous and unacceptable. He, therefore called on African governments to jettison ideas sold to them by neo-libral governments and face how to make water easily available to citizens because it is an issue of human rights.
Delivering the stand of 11 other groups across the continent, Sefa Ikpa, CAPPA’s Programme Officer, Water Campaign said the fourth annual Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatisation, was an initiative of the Our Water, Our Right African Coalition (OWORAC).
According to her, the week was aimed at uplifting the urgent need to address the continent’s water crises and exposing the dangers that
privatisation and corporate control schemes posed to realising the human right to water.
According to her, OWORAC, which is a network of community leaders, civil society, and trade unionists from nearly a dozen African countries frowned at the neocolonial forces of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for bearing down on the African continent by entrapping states in debt and using this leverage to push anti-people policies which have undermined public welfare and environmental stewardship on the continent.
The coalition listed some of these anti-people policies as rising cost of water service which has jeopardized workplace safety of public sector workers and deterioration of infrastructure.
Giving examples across Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya and others. They called for action saying, “Water justice, and social justice 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 statement was signed by the Senegalese Water Justice Network, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) (Nigeria), Revenue Mobilisation Africa (Ghana), Syndicat Autonome des Travailleurs des Eaux du Senegal (Senegal), Corporate Accountability (USA) and African Centre for Advocacy (Cameroon).
Others are Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (Kenya), Institute of Black World (USA), Ecumenical Water Network of Nigeria, Network of Water Rights Initiative (Nigeria), Cheriehomes Global Initiatives (Nigeria), Citizens Free Service Forum (Nigeria), and Syndicat National Autonome des Travailleurs de l’Energie, de L’Eau ef des Mines du Cameroun (SYNATEEC) (Cameroon).
In a solidarity message to mark the week, Neil Gupta, the Water Campaign Director at Corporate Accountability (USA), said, neglected infrastructure has led to the collapse of public water across the world and called for a change of heart, while Leonard Shang-Quartey, Coordinator, Africa Water Justice Network (AWJN) decried the “commodification of water” across the world.
On her part, Fatou Diouf, Acting Secretary of Senegalese Water Justice Network, condemns privatization of water, while Dr Don Daniels decried the attempts by corporations to take over the supply of water.
The one week of action continues with other programmes throughout the week across the continent.
