CPP says will organise protests against water privatisation

The Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Dr Abubakar Al-Hassan on Friday warned that the party would organise civil society protests in the event of the privatisation of the country's water supply system.

Speaking in Tamale on Friday, Dr Al-Hassan said the CPP would not compromise on its stand against the privatisation of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).

"If it becomes necessary for us to mobilise the people to take to the streets to protest the privatisation of GWCL, the CPP would not hesitate to do that."

He said the incidence of guinea worm and other water-borne diseases, which has declined, would resurface at an alarming rate if the water supply system was privatised, because many people cannot afford to pay economic rates for such services.

Dr Al-Hassan appealed to President John Agyekum Kufuor to reflect over the implications of such a policy on the people and rescind the decision. He debunked the notion that privatisation of GWCL would create more jobs and said "jobs will be created much faster through direct participation in certain strategic establishment such as the GWCL."

The CPP leader noted that unless the NPP government realises that it has to blend social needs with "the so-called golden age of business where everything depends on profits, the privatisation will be a disaster to the people."

He said: "Sooner or later, Ghanaians having lost all social benefits and failed to reach the promised land, will vent their anger on the government," he warned.

Unless the NPP government blended social needs with capitalist proposals it would not be able to achieve much within the next four years, Dr Al-Hassan said and observed that none of the investors have shown interest in strategic area like agriculture, which is supposed to be the backbone of the country's economy.

"Very few, if any, have moved into the rural areas where over 60 per cent of the population live." He said social equilibrium could easily be attained through state participation.

Dr Al-Hassan emphasised that the CPP has never been against private investment and that the CPP government during the First Republic had to seek foreign capital to construct the Akosombo hydro-electricity dam, the Tema Port and other strategic investments for the state.

He said it was such investment, which the previous government and the NPP are selling indiscriminately.