As a partner to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program of the United Nations, Ghana is likely to miss its target in accelerating the achievement of water and sanitation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through strategically targeted interventions due to government’s plan of introducing prepaid water metering systems for water consumption without much consultations.

This  new policy by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) strongly backed by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing when implemented will only be based on the principle that water consumptions are calculated, and consumers are charged accordingly in advance. Consumers spend the amount of water loaded from credit sales offices by loading the credit to water meters via smart cards.

The water meter cuts off the water by closing its valve when the credit ends, but when the consumer re-loads the spare credit in smart card to the water meter, the valve will re-open. The spare credits function allows consumers to use water until they re-load the smart card.

Why Ghana is likely to fail in attaining MDGs on water and sanitation

It is automatic that this move by government, the sole regulator of water in this country will end up punishing the poor and less privileged in Ghana, while making life difficult for the poor masses especially women and children. This new policy will directly worsen the life of over 28% of Ghanaians below the poverty line of a population of 25 million. It is likely to also affect the over 28% of Ghanaian children under 5 who suffer from stunting; 14% are underweight.

Current United Nations (UN) figures show some 70% of sub-Saharan African countries including Ghana, do not have access to adequate sanitation, while over a quarter and nearly 230 million people practise open defecation.

In Ghana, available measurable financial costs according to a World Bank assessment indicates that $290 million loses are made each year due to lack of sanitation services.

With such alarming figures, I can deduce that, when government goes ahead with the implementation of this pilot project without much consultation and consider the high percentage of poor persons in the country, all efforts over the years to promote good sanitation practice and access to safe and portable water will go down the drain. This is possible because the poor will not be able to afford the prices of the water especially in the rural north of Ghana were poverty is on the increase, and their inability to pay will end them in consuming unsafe water, which will further worsen the sanitation conditions of the individuals and the country at large. It is simple to predict this because without water there is no sanitation and without sanitation there is no water. Poor sanitation will also result in more financial loss to the state and high death rate especially among children and women through various forms of sanitation related epidemic.

When all this happen government will fail to accelerate achievement of the water and sanitation MDGs through strategically targeted interventions that strengthen governance of the water and sanitation sectors at appropriate levels and also fail to deliver by 2015, safe, affordable and reliable water, sanitation to over 1.1 billion people who have no access to water supply and to more than 2.6 billion people who have no adequate sanitation.

The Way Forward

For government to work steadily on the attainment of the water and sanitation MDG by 2015 with regards to this new water metering policy, government should find money to expand GWCL to provide water to all regions especially the poorer regions. Introducing pre-paid metering won’t solve the investment needs as complained by GWCL that large-scale users of water, including some producers of sachet water fail to pay their water bills, and the technical audit of Ghana Water Company itself shows that they are losing 40 per cent of their treated water through burst pipes, illegal connections, over spills and leakages at their production sites. In this sense, fixing these gaps will surely save the state huge sums of money to fund our water delivery systems to promote good sanitation and more access to portable water for the poor.

Government should intervene by moving those who are actually paying exorbitantly to service connection so that they can at least obtain water at an affordable price; actually the situation where a section of the Ghanaian population is buying water cheaply and others are buying it more expensive is uncalled-for and unfair.

Nevertheless, prepaid meters are one effective way of reducing revenue losses for the water company, since water can only be obtained by using an electronic token which has already had money loaded onto it but it’s important that government have its priorities right else the plight of the poor who buy water at high prices will be increased and deny them their right to water which is a basic necessity for life.

Quick Read

• Prepaid meter will enable customers pay only for what they consume and also help them manage their water accounts better.
• Safe water and better sanitation can help address so many of the challenges Africa faces today, from reducing the HIV transmission rate to improving child health and school attendance.
• Prioritising safe water and sanitation, Africa’s leaders can also ensure the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals is dealt with strategically. Africa’s leaders can set the continent onto a trajectory so that by 2030, everyone has access to this basic right to sanitation.