[ 2014-07-18 ]

Cedi Depreciation Affecting Water And Sanitation Sector
The fall in the value of the Ghana cedi to the
major trading currencies such as the dollar and
the pound sterling is having a serious toll on the
Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH Sector of the
country.

To this end government has been urged to as a
matter of urgency re examine and review its fiscal
policy as part of measures to stabilize the local
currency.

Country Representative of Water Aid Ghana Dr Afia
Zakiya made the call at the Sanitation and Water
for All SWA National Roundtable Meeting in Accra.

The Sanitation and Water for All SWA, is a global
partnership of over 90 developing country,
governments, donors, civil society organizations
and other development partners to push for
increase political leadership and action on WASH
improvement accountability among other sector
actors and use scarce resources more effectively.

According to Dr Zakiya , the Problem if not
addressed will create inequality in the WASH
Sector defeating Ghana's quest to champion the
issue of equity in the West African Sub Region.

She says the serious fall of in the value of the
Ghanaian cedi is seriously affecting Water Aid
Ghana in its quest to complete some ongoing
projects that have been commenced to provide
relief to some deprived communities in the
country.

This, she laments could greatly affect Ghana's
quest in achieving the Millennium Development
Goals on Water and Sanitation.

The roundtable meeting was used to officially
outdoor and disseminate the Ghana SWA High Level
Meeting commitments to Stakeholders in the WASH
Sector.

It also sought to ensure the tenets of the
commitment were well understood by sector players
and also come out with modalities to track
mechanisms, processes and report on the commitment
to update players on its fulfillment.

For his part Head of Policy at WAG, Ibrahim Musah
challenged the media especially members of the
Ghana Watsan journalist Network GWJN to ensure
they come out with investigative reports on some
inactions of government on the SWA to help inform
sector players.

Most of the participants at the meeting also
lamented about the inability of the Finance
Ministry to avail itself at such crucial
stakeholders meeting and several of such meetings
despite the critical role they play when it comes
to commitments at the SWA HLM.

The roundtable meeting which was organized by
Water Aid Ghana brought together representatives
from the Local Government Ministry, United Nations
Children Fund, UNICEF , Ministry of Water
Resources , Water and Housing , Coalition of Non
Governmental Organizations in Water and
Sanitation, Ghana Health Service , Resource Centre
Network and the Ghana Watsan Journalist Network.

Source - Fred Dzakpata

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