Sierra Leonean delegation visits Ghana to examine water sector

A Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing has noted that the pursuit of development and poverty reduction that fails to take into consideration the vital requirement for water and sanitation is not sustainable.

Nii Nortey Duah said it is the fundamental duty of every government to ensure that its citizens had access to potable water and sanitation, adding, these were essential for human dignity and economic development.

Nii Duah made the observation when he formally welcomed a delegation from Sierra Leone on a study tour to Ghana to examine the water and sanitation sector of the country.

He said as neighbours in the West African sub-region, it was necessary to periodically learn from each other since there was a great potential of cross fertilisation in doing so.

He noted that the water and sanitation sector in Ghana had come a long way in terms of governance and coordination, adding that this had become possible through the various platforms often offered to development partners, civil society organisations, the private sector and government.

“Our firm commitments to foster this fruitful harmonisation had driven us to set in motion a series of activities to have a sustainable framework and a robust document that would serve as a reference point to all players in the sector,” he added.

Nii Duah indicated that the vision in the area of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for the country was to make the initiative services available and accessible to the people for basic and productive use.

In pursuit of this vision, the country had committed its self to effective leadership in policy formulation, strategic planning, sector coordination, monitoring and the overall management of water and its related sanitation issues.

He said government was committed in efforts to provide potable water to the ever increasing population, where the national water supply coverage target for 2012 was 85 per cent for urban water and 76 per cent for rural water supply.

Nii Duah said the current statistics reveals that approximately 62 per cent of the demands in these areas had been met.

Mr. Reginald Thomas, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources- Sierra Leone, said his country admires the strives Ghana had made in its water and sanitation sector.

He said one area of interest to Sierra Leone was water and sanitation delivery.

Mr. Thomas said the delegation would be in the country for a week to examine service delivery of the WASH sector forum, policy planning, service delivery and how the sector collaborates to ensure its success.**