A report released in May by UK NGO Christian Aid, documents case studies in India, Ghana and Jamaica where imposed liberalisation has ravaged local industry with devastating social impacts.
Ghana
Social services
Commentary
The private sector in Ghana’s water - a strategy to serve or steal?
Rudolf Amenga-Etego of GrassrootsAfrica comments that the Ghanaian government must re-prioritise the national budget in favour of the water sector. However, this will only be possible if the international financial institutions are restrained.
Rights
News
West Africa Pipeline approved despite resistance
The World Bank's board of directors have just approved an investment guarantee for the US$590 million West Africa gas pipeline (WAGP). Civil society organisations in the region have focussed their concerns on violence and instability in the oil and gas communities of Nigeria’s Niger Delta, and the negative effects of gas flaring.
Social services
News
Bank approves Ghana water loan
In August, the World Bank approved a $103 million loan for the privatisation of Ghana's…
Rights
News
African right to water
Activists, academics and civil society met in Accra 12-14 May for a conference entitled "Corporate Globalisation & the Scramble for Africa's Water: scrutinising the roles of Bretton Woods Institutions & donor community".
Conditionality
News
Ghana faces IMF arm-twisting
After the IMF intensified retaliatory measures on Ghana for failing to comply with its requirements, the country now appears eager to please the Washington institution, probably at a high social cost.
Social services
News
Ghana water privatisation disputed by independent analysts
An international fact-finding mission on plans to reform the water sector in Ghana made its conclusions public before the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.
Social services
News
Ghanaians contest Bank-backed water privatisation
A broad coalition of organisations is challenging the plan to privatise Ghana’s water system. They complain that the World Bank and IMF-promoted scheme will not extend services to poorer people or ensure fair pricing. The deal - which the IMF has just made part of its new conditions for Ghana - reflects the biases of the consultants which drew it up at a cost of $3million.
Conditionality
News
Ghana PRS has “potential”
An assessment of Ghana’s Poverty Reduction Strategy process (GPRS) suggests there is much potential for formulating, in a participatory manner, an effective poverty reduction strategy.
