Access to Water is Human Rights, Coalition Warns African Governments Against Privatization
African communities under the auspices of Our Water Our Right Coalition (OWORAC) have warned African Governments against water privatization and demanded that they uphold the human right to water as an obligation of the government to the people.
The coalition made their demands at the commencement of the Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatization which was hosted by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) in Lagos.
Akinbode Oluwafemi, the Executive Director of CAPPA while speaking at the kick-off demanded that African Governments should also integrate broad public participation in developing plans to achieve universal access to clean water.
Stressing that African governments should desist from water privatization, Oluwafemi urged that they should “reject contracts designed by or involving the International Finance Corporations, which operates to maximize private profit and to build the political will to prioritize water for the people by investing in the water infrastructure necessary to provide universal water access, which will create jobs, improve public health.”
He also added that there should be increased budgetary allocation to the water sector and expansion of public financing for the water sector.
Benjamin Anthony, the President of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) lamented about the leaders who are not interested in people’s welfare and collaborate with the IMF, World Bank, and multinationals to enslave the people.
He urged Africans to “continue to speak out so that we are not enslaved.”
The Africa Week of Action against Water Privatization will include social media actions, rural community water parliament in Lagos, Abuja, Ekiti, Enugu, Plateau, and other states; engaging public office holders, and signing of social contract. The activities will hold simultaneously across Africa; Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Uganda, Cameroon, and Ghana.
Source: BONews
