Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed that governmental interventions in the water sub-sector have led to an additional 4.3million Ghanaians having access to potable water.
The Vice President said this has led to an increase in sanitation in the country, essentially leading to not even a single case of cholera being recorded in the country within the past five years.
Bawumia made this known during a speech delivered at the ongoing “All System Go Africa” Symposium on Wednesday, October 19th 2022.
Dr Bawumia was a guest of honour at the symposium, which brought together African Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Experts to brainstorm on the best way to make the WASH Sector on the Continent more responsive to the needs of the populace.
Speaking on the challenges in the sector, the Vice President pointed out that over half a billion people globally do not have access to an adequate water supply, with a significant proportion of that found in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is on record that, out of the over half a billion people living without adequate supply of water globally, a significant proportion is found in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, this was among the fundamental forces that drove African Leaders to commit to a bold vision, ‘that everyone on the Continent will have access to safe water by 2025′”, the Vice President said.
“However, the story has not changed much, as it is estimated that over 95 million Africans, today, lack access to safely managed water and a further 504 million live without safe sanitation services.”
Dr Bawumia said that African governments have demonstrated a commitment to improving the sector but challenges, including a lack of funding, have led to the improvements not being able to match the demands of population growth.
“It must be emphasized that, African Governments have, however, demonstrated a strong leadership in resource allocation to the WASH Sector, but unfortunately, progress seems slow, as this has not matched population growth.
“Indeed, with the current slow rate of progress, as it has been already stated, some countries in Africa are not only likely to miss the 2025 WASH targets but might also fail to attain the global target set for the year 2030. This means that, millions of families, including children, risk being left without critical life-saving water and sanitation services; hence the need to intensify our efforts to provide more WASH infrastructure.
“We also acknowledge that the issue for more funding in the WASH Sector will remain a major challenge to the Continent, especially during this period when the world is faced with the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and the Russia/Ukraine war.
“This assertion is reinforced by estimates from the African Development Bank suggesting that, currently, the African Continent requires between $87 billion and $112 billion, additionally, to finance the execution of WASH infrastructure annually.” the Vice President continued.
Touching on the government of Ghana, he revealed the numerous projects undertaken by the ruling NPP government to improve water and sanitation in the country since taking office.
He named projects including the Upper East Water Supply Project, the Yendi Water Supply project. the Tamale Water Supply Project, the Damongo Water Supply Project, the Wenchi Water Supply Project, the Sunyani Water Supply Project, Keta Water Supply Project, Sekondi-Takoradi Water Supply Project, and the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA)/ Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area Water and Sanitation Project.
Bawumia said all these projects is expected to lead to an additional 4.3million people having access to portable water in Ghana.
“The interventions in the water sub-sector are expected to result in additional 4.3 million beneficiaries having access to potable water. According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census of Ghana on water and sanitation coordinated by the Ghana Statistical Service, the number of households that currently have access to toilet facilities has increased from 33 % to 59.3%. With respect to water, the percentage of households with access to basic drinking water has seen a significant improvement from 79 % in 2018 to 87.7 % in 2021.” Bawumia continued.
“These improvements have resulted in significant gains, with not a single case of cholera recorded over the past 5 years….Ghana’s achievement has been possible, for instance in the sanitation space, because of the Government’s decision to continue to encourage the Public-Private Partnership option in the execution of socio-economic infrastructure,” he added.
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com