OWORAC renews call for govts to reject water privatisation
Our Water, Our Right Africa Coalition (OWORAC) has reiterated its earlier call on African governments and peoples to reject water privatisation.
While joining communities across the globe in commemorating World Water Day, whose theme this year is ‘Water and Gender’, it described the ‘public-private partnerships’ as false solutions to the challenges the continent faces.
This year’s theme, according to a statement presented on behalf of OWORAC by Programme Officer (Water Campaign), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Holiness Segun-Olufemi, underscores the critical importance of addressing the gender inequality inherent in households facing acute water crises.
OWORAC, a group of civil society organisations, local communities and trade unionists from across Africa, affirms that all forms of water privatisation and corporate control of water must be rejected as they are fundamentally at odds with the realisation of both water and gender justice, particularly in Africa.
According to the statement, every single day, women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa spend 200 million hours collecting water.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Director of WASH and CEED, Cecilia Sharp, puts it succinctly, “Every step a girl takes to collect water is a step away from learning, playing and safety.”
OWORAC also expressed concern over reports that the government of Zimbabwe is considering scrapping the Zimbabwe Gender Commission. “At a time, the global community is recognising the deep connections between water access and gender equality, dismantling one of the few national institutions mandated to respond to women’s issues would represent a troubling step backwards,” it lamented.
In her welcome speech at the briefing in Lagos, which attracted the media and members of impacted communities, Assistant Executive Director, CAPPA, Zikora Ibeh, asserted that women and girls bear the brunt of water shortage.
Ibeh called on governments to jettison the idea of selling water to the highest bidder and channel public funds into public service.
Source: Guardian NG
