Abstract
Protecting access to water represents human dignity and remains the traditional right upon which other forms of human rights are realised. This article argues that privatisation of Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC), which was conceived by the IMF/WB, and facilitated by the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); disfigures the humanity of poor Ghanaians, who lack the financial resource to purchase water. Similarly, it contends, that guided by avarice and greed, some MNCs characterised water as ‘blue gold’ to be exploited for financial and economic gains; thereby undermining the communal status of water, as stipulated in the water policy of Ghana. The article further argues, that by eschewing corruption-related practices, the Ghanaian government as well as state institutions, especially the judiciary, should protect the people’s access to water-supply; by construing international human rights instruments and domestic constitution to the people’s access to water. Keywords: Access, Water, human rights, GATS, Trade Liberalisation, Corruption, IMF/WB DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/110-08 Publication date: June 30 th 2021
Highlights
The problem is ignored, but millions of people lack access to safe and potable drinking-water and over three million Ghanaians lack access to proper sanitation.[1]
This article argues that privatisation of Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC), which was conceived by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank (WB), and facilitated by the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); disfigures the humanity of poor Ghanaians, who lack the financial resource to purchase water
Water: A ’Blue Gold’ or Public Good The view that water is a public good, meant to serve the health, sanitation and dignity of all peoples, in accordance with human rights principles, has shifted ground. This is because some multinational corporations (MNCs), World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), acted in concert with few politicians in developing states, to lobby for water to be branded as a ‘blue gold’ worth exploitation for its economic profits
Summary
The problem is ignored, but millions of people lack access to safe and potable drinking-water and over three million Ghanaians lack access to proper sanitation.[1]. It considers Ghana’s water policy (section 5), and judicial intervention to promote the human rights to water (section 6) It examines the impact of judicial intervention and how it promotes access to water (section 7); and explores the concept whether water is a ‘blue gold’ to be exploited for economic gains or a public/social good to serve the health and sanitation needs of humanity (section 8). It discusses the GATS Agreement and the commodification of water in Ghana (section 9); including, the influential role played by the MNCs in privatisation of the GWSC in Ghana (section 10).
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