sierra leone: water, not privatisation, for the people
Access to safe water is a basic right. Yet in Freetown this right is
not being met by the current water supplier, the cash-strapped,
state-owned Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC), its infrastructure eroded
after years of war. However, privatisation,
an option pushed on the country by the World Bank, IMF and aid agencies
like the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), is not
the solution favoured by civil society groups. “We are very concerned
about the government’s intention to privatise … when water is an
essential resource for the survival of poor people,” said Olatunde
Johnson of Friends of the Earth Sierra Leone.
For this project, FoE Sierra Leone sought to have the DFID cease its
support for water privatisation in Sierra Leone. They also aimed to
facilitate the preparation of national water and sanitation policy, and
water regulation.
what happened: FoE Sierra Leone participated in consultations with
decision makers, government officials, paramount chiefs and local
council village heads. They also took part in media interviews and
radio discussions, to inform people from all walks of life on how the
GVWC could strengthen its performance without having to be privatised.
FoE Sierra Leone, along with other civil society groups, lobbied the
government, DFID and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The latter is a
consultancy employed by the DFID to advise Sierra Leone’s National
Commission for Privatisation (NCP), ostensibly on how to privatise the
GVWC. FoE Sierra Leone and civil society groups also worked with the
NCP on a proposed national water and sanitation policy, and set up an
integrated and participatory approach for water resource planning,
management and development.
The group also worked on and facilitated plans to establish an energy
and water utilities regulatory authority. And finally, FoE Sierra Leone
carried out a comprehensive survey of Freetown’s water supplies.
what is changing: The above activities enabled FoE Sierra Leone to
provide evidence-based results on Freetown’s water sector and to
propose recommendations for reform options, soundly based on their
broad consultations with water users in the Guma Valley system. The
findings are not only key to designing policy, they are also vital to
inform the public’s view as they seek a system to meet their need and
guarantee their rights.
The project helped improve the GVWC’s performance through a
comprehensive performance contract setup by the NCP. The NCP and GVWC
also aimed to identify activities which could be carried out through
private-sector involvement in GVWC operations, such as borehole
drilling; meter connections and repairs, water bill distribution, stand
pipe management, spare parts supply and distribution. Another result of
the project will be review studies on the GVWC investment and expansion
plans to increase its supply of water from additional sources.
what we learned: FoE Sierra Leone’s work revealed that wider civil
society is not engaged in the dialogue around planned reform of the
GVWC. A survey conducted by the group indicates the vast majority of
people in affected communities knew little or nothing about government
policy on water supply.
To change this, and for the sake of accountability and transparency, it
will be vital to generate some form of public debate/consultations
about the issue and create the necessary awareness, participation and
ownership; and thereby a guarantee of people’s stake in the
decision-making process.
what next: An important problem FoE Sierra Leone faces is lack of
transparency in the consultation process with the government and
PricewaterhouseCoopers. Although the privatisation agenda was not
articulated in this process, it was nonetheless reflected in their
final report. Unfortunately this seems to suggest, quite wrongly, that
privatisation has the tacit support of civil society. Thus there is
need for further debate, and for the Government of Sierra Leone to
clarify its position on this.
with thanks to our funders: the dutch ministry of foreign affairs
