The pages of Ghana's international migration story are filled with contrasts. According to the country's 2000 census, the population of 19 million is composed of a mosaic of ethnic groups, virtually all of whom claim to have migrated to Ghana from other regions of Africa. The Castle of St. George d'Elmina and other infamous abodes of the "doors of no return" mark the paths of slaves destined for the Americas. The current Ghanaian government has swung these "doors" back open, hoping to persuade American and Caribbean descendents of the slave trade to live in Ghana. Meanwhile, Ghanaian citizens continue to emigrate to North America, Europe, and other parts of Africa. The economic, political, and social woes of the past three decades have created a new diaspora of Ghanaians searching for opportunities elsewhere. As a result, Ghana is often highlighted as a nation struggling with the effects of brain drain.

The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private-sector lending arm, on Tuesday (January 31) approved $125 million in loans for gold major Newmont Mining Corp.'s Ahafo project in Ghana, but not all countries on the IFC's 24-member board agreed it was a good move, reports Reuters. Board officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said three countries abstained and one objected during discussions on the project, amid concerns about the environmental impact and resettlement of families that were living on the mine's site.

“Nothing has captured and engaged the imagination of the Ghanaian political jockey lately, home and abroad, more than the current bill – Peoples Representation Amendment Bill – in front of parliament,” says an article on The Bill seeks to extend voting rights and exercise to Ghanaians domiciled overseas. “To those who support the amendment, this is a further demonstration of the buoying democratic dispensation in Ghana…To the opponents, the bill is pregnant with all the anxieties reminiscent of the concerns and fears. They are afraid and are keen on seeing that the right people are elected to govern the country, whose policies would not endanger their interests.”

This World Bank report examines the impact of ambiguous and contested land rights on investment and productivity in agriculture in Akwapim, Ghana, showing that individuals who hold powerful positions in a local political hierarchy have more secure tenure rights, and that as a consequence they invest more in land fertility and have substantially higher output.

Organisers are pleased to invite all health policy makers, indigenous peoples, health institutions and workers, scientists, orthodox medical practitioners, traditional health practitioners, botanists, foundations, pharmaceutical and bio-technological companies, legal practitioners, law schools, law students and law societies, environmentalists, HIV-caregivers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and the citizens of the world to a global summit on HIV/AIDS, traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge at the Accra International Conference Centre, Republic of Ghana, on March 14-18, 2006.

Rudolf Amenga-Etego argues against the privatization of water in Ghana and introduces an example of community driven water delivery managed for the public good instead of profits. In a country where in some parts the average citizen earns only 50 cents a day, but is expected to pay the full market price for water, he argues for a water management system that “incorporates the collective wisdom of the community as an operative rule”.

The neo-liberal ideology that is driving water policy globally is rooted in the in the so-called “Washington Consensus”, which is nothing but a market fundamentalist conspiracy to corner the world’s resources to satisfy the greed of a tiny minority. It is an ideology that puts profits before people, threatens our eco-systems through excessive exploitation and turns the essentials of life into mere articles of trade.

Ghana, a country of 20 million people with 10 million of them earning less than 2 dollars a day, is a typical example of a well-endowed country reduced to begging. After decades of trying to adjust our economy to fit into a global trading system crafted by a few corporations with the complicity of the Bretton Woods institutions and spineless governments at their beck and call, we are consigned to the fringes of humanity where life is cheaper than condoms. There are parts of Ghana, the Upper East region being typical, where the average citizen earns only 50 cents a day and is now also expected to pay the full market price for water.

This is a consequence of the signing of a management service contract in November this year, handing over the management of the water service to the private sector. The signing of the contract is significant in a number of ways:

- It signals a change in the World Bank policy, which hitherto favoured leases and concessions. The assumption then was that the private sector would invest in the water sector. This didn’t happen.
- It is an indication that the water corporations now prefer management service contracts that guarantee upfront payments with little or no risks.
- The World Bank remains essentially the smokescreen behind which the corporations operate.
- To the activist, it means “not yet uhuru”.

Management service contracts are essentially attempts to take over public utilities for the purpose of making money without investment risk. The operational principle remains full cost recovery from consumers, irrespective of the ability to pay. Creative and innovative ways of providing safe water, especially to the poor, are ignored and therefore no investment flows into alternative thinking.

In Ghana, keeping water in public hands is an expression of sovereignty. The country has been declared a “highly indebted poor country” (HIPC) by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, who structurally adjusted her into debt in the first place. This is a country at the mercy of aid agencies. Surrendering her water to foreign corporate control will be the final act of capitulation.

There is no shortage of talent in Ghana. What is needed is a management system that incorporates the collective wisdom of the community as an operative rule. It is by involving people not as mere consumers but as citizens with rights, including the right to participate and to hold the management system accountable that will ensure the changes necessary for good water governance and universal access.

Certain policy interventions are key to eliminating the current neoliberal inequalities in water delivery to better achieve the ‘public good’ aspects of water services. These include:

- no prepaid meters for poor households;
- increased amounts of free water;
- better regulation of tariff structures so that they do not penalize the poor; and
- a non- discriminatory infrastructural plan that ensures that poor areas are equally served.

There should also be increased public funding for improving the efficiency of water systems and access. There should be a programme aimed at promoting public sector alternatives including community-based systems.

A celebrated example in Ghana which clearly demonstrates innovativeness is the Savelugu-Ghana Water Company partnership. In 2000, the Savelugu community and the Ghana Water Company signed an agreement to supply water to the Savelugu Township. Roles for both parties were defined, and the terms of the agreement were negotiated. The agreement involves the supply of bulk potable water to the township, which has the responsibility of retailing the water to community members. The bulk price is negotiated from time to time and a community water and sanitation board meets to set the retail price and discuss exemptions.

The success of the Savelugu experiment derives largely from its underlying principle that a community is able to work with a public utility to provide a service for its members efficiently. A recent base line survey by the Foundation for Grassroots Initiatives in Africa (GrassRootsAfrica) stated some of the ways that the township and the Ghana Water Company have benefited from the partnership as follows:

The township:
- It has guaranteed supply of potable water from a public utility.
- It is relieved from the complex process of producing and treating water as in other small towns practicing community management.
- The means exists to negotiate with the utility on price and quantity of water to be supplied.
- There is democratic decision-making among community members on tariffs and exemption procedures.
- Profits accrued from water sales are used for expansion and other community development projects.
- There is capacity to negotiate with private sector companies to provide services.
- There is the opportunity to benefit from technical support from the public utility at acceptable costs.
- Equitable access to water supply is promoted through participatory decision-making and management processes.
- Women are involved in decisions on water delivery.
- Social control measures are used to check pilfering and illegal connections and ensure prompt detection and containment of leaking pipes to reduce losses.

The Ghana Water Company:
- It saves on the cost of personnel to bill and collect tariffs from the community.
- It attains a relatively higher economic return per unit of water supplied to domestic consumers, as compared to other parts of Tamale.
- Unaccounted for water reduces to a minimum (near zero), as the community pays for all water consumed.
- It enjoys an intimate and healthy relationship with consumers.
- Pilfering and collusion with consumers to manipulate revenue due to the company is eliminated as the community pays to the company through crossed checks.

The argument that there is no efficient way of delivering safe water without the participation of the private sector peels off in the face of the Savelugu example. Shockingly, in spite of this exciting news, the World Bank is refusing to look that way. The World Bank’s privatization fixation is entirely inappropriate in the delivery of water to the people of Ghana. Activists in Ghana have argued that the government of Ghana and the donor community, if they are really serious about addressing the accountability and efficiency issues alleged to be bedeviling the Ghana Water Company, should be investing in the Savelugu model and investigating ways of replicating it. Wholly community-based systems should also be supported as alternatives to privatization.

* Rudolf Amenga-Etego is with the Foundation For GrassRoots Initiatives In Africa

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Extra judicial killings, torture and detention without trial as systematic human rights violation still occurs in Ghana...although we are in a constitutional era, Nana Oye Lithur, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Institute (CHRI), on Tuesday (December 13) noted. She said the persistence of human right violations in the post-National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) era called for concern, if another NRC were to be prevented in the future.

The Government has announced the award of the so-called Management Service Contracts by which transnational business corporations propose to take over Ghana Water Company's operations. Last Tuesday, 22nd November 2005, a contract was signed with a consortium made up of a Dutch company, Vitens, and Rand Water of South Africa.

FIDA Ghana plans to increase its awareness and educational campaigns programs as well as women and children empowerment programs in Ghana. This placement is intended to strengthen the capacity of FIDA to continue to promote its human rights programs in Ghana.

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition has launched its quarterly newsletter in Accra. Speaking at the launch, the Chairman of the Coalition, Reverend Fred Deegbe, said that although people perceive corruption in the country to be high, they are not actively involved in the crusade. This he said is because of the lack of understanding of the real issues at stake. He said the Anti-Corruption Dialogue newsletter is expected to serve as an instrument for promoting the anti-corruption agenda.

Ghanaian Frances Williams, CEO of London-based company Interims for Development (www.InterimsFD.com), was named 'Rising Star of the Year 2005' at the fiercely-contested UK Trade & Investment Black Enterprise Awards in London. Officially launched in Ghana in 2003 by the Ghana Government's Minister for Private Sector Development, Interims for Development works with African businesses and international companies operating in Africa to support their Human Resources, business development and capacity building needs.

The United Nations Population Fund has launched a campaign in Ghana to spread awareness of obstetric fistula, the dangerous health condition that hits many young African mothers especially hard. UNFPA experts in Ghana urged the media to pay more attention to fistula, saying it could help suffering women overcome the isolation and low self-esteem they often face.

More than 500 refugees have broken loose from the refugee camp at Krisan in the Nzema East District of the Western Region and crammed into an area at the Elubo border citing poor feeding and accommodation conditions. The refugees, who are from 10 countries in Africa, claimed it was an attempt to draw international attention to their plight. However, the UNHCR, responsible for assisting governments to protect and take care of refugees and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), which has oversight responsibility for the management of the refugee camp had dismissed the allegations.

Ghana would soon ratify the United Nations and African Union (AU) Conventions on Preventing and Combating Corruption and related offences following Parliament's receipt of Government's documents on the issue. So far only 10 nations, including Nigeria, Burundi, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar and Mali have ratified the African Convention but 15 nations are required to make it operational and enforceable. On the other hand, only five African countries - Libya, Madagascar, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda - have ratified the UN document.

Ghana and Sino Hydro, a Chinese construction company, have signed a memorandum of understanding to undertake the construction of the Bui Dam. The government is currently funding the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) at a cost of $2 million to prepare the ground for the take-off of the project after ongoing negotiations on funding have been completed. The $500 million project, which has been on the drawing board for decades, is expected to augment the power supply production from the Akosombo dam and Aboadze Thermal Plant.

Richard Adjei-Poku, Field Officer of Kenyasi-based non-governmental organisation Guards of the Earth and the Vulnerable, has shed more light on the drowning in a dam created by Newmont, a gold mining company, operating in the Kenyasi area, in the Brong Ahafo region. He was speaking to newsmen at a press conference facilitated by Third World Network Africa on 21 October. He maintained how two of the villagers, in their attempt to cross a so-called bridge, became victims of the negligence of Newmont Gold Ghana Limited, which is the world's largest gold-producer.

Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) is pleased to announce that we are looking for qualified candidates to fill eleven new positions, one in our head office in Toronto and ten in our office in Ghana. These positions are a result of recent funding from Canada Corps, a new initiative of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Ghana has made a request to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees(UNHCR)to assist it to repatriate Darfur refugees in the country to their country. The Minister of the Interior,Papa Owusu-Ankomah,made the appeal to the Director of the UNHCR at the 56th session of the UNHCR. According to the minister,other issues discussed by the assembly included the rate at which people were becoming xenophobic about the presence of refugees in their countries by calling for their repatriation and the attention to be paid to the abuse of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.

The Western Regional Minister, Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has given conflicting accounts about the exact amount spent for the renovation and refurbishment of his brother-in-law's private bungalow at Wassa Akropong, to serve as residence for the DCE for Amenfi East. Besides a whopping ¢830million that was used to refurbish the DCE's residence, another issue that has raised eyebrows in the area is a ¢920million that was also spent and captured as amount used to refurbish the District Coordinating Director (DCD) bungalow.

A private Ghanaian radio station has just launched an operation to raise funds for the purchase of police equipment. Kumasi-based Kapital Radio is hoping this project will raise 150 million cedis (8.99 million CFA francs). The manager of the station said that the initiative was designed to help the security forces improve their fight against criminality. Local police chiefs welcomed this "noble idea" and have already donated 5 million cedis (299,000 CFA francs) to the fund. This amount was matched by the management of Kapital Radio.