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On the side-lines of the African Peoples Counter COP which began on October 17, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation (CAPPA) will be launching a four-country report titled Impact of Climate Change on Frontline Communities in Africa: Case study of Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, and South Africa.

The report will be unveiled at a session of the Counter COP titled Amplifying the Voices of Frontline Communities in Africa on Friday October 21, 2022, at 11am-1pm GMT.

Impacts of Climate Change in Frontline Communities in Africa documents the challenges faced by communities in Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, and South Africa and captures their vulnerability to climate change. It captures the testimonials of local community people, especially women who bear the burdens of climate change but are not part of or considered relevant in the decision-making processes to address the crisis.

The report details climate impacts on Okun Alfa community, once a leisure resort in Lagos, Nigeria which is now at the mercy of the Atlantic’s raging waters. The plight of the Okun Alfa community is exacerbated by the Eko Atlantic City real estate project promoted by the state and the $19 billion Dangote Refinery owned by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man.

In northern Cameroon, the Kakou and Ouro Garga communities struggle with climate change induced drought which has led to a decrease in agricultural yields and disruption of the agricultural calendars that existed for generations. In the two communities the cost of food has skyrocketed, forcing families to contend with poverty and malnutrition.

In Togo, the Doevi Kope community, which had rich vegetation cover forests in the 1970S is now seriously threatened by coastal erosion and coastal flooding. The impacts are worsened by the activities of Bolloré Africa Logistics, the company that is currently constructing the Port of Lomé.

Eldorado and Katlehong communities in South Africa contend with incessant exposure to drought and heat waves that is now adversely affecting farming and leaving young people unemployed, desperate, and vulnerable. The report also recommends holding Big Polluters accountable for the climate crisis as well as concrete recommendations to government, civil society, and other critical interventionist agencies.

To participate in the launch of the report on Impacts of Climate Change in Frontline Communities in Africa, register here:

New report catalogues climate impacts on African communities

Fanta Mabo 20 octobre 2022 0 Comments

On the side-lines of the African Peoples Counter COP which began on October 17, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation (CAPPA) will be launching a four-country report titled Impact of Climate Change on Frontline Communities in Africa: Case study of Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, and South Africa.

Communities impacted and those under threat of water privatization across Africa have called on African governments to jettison water privatisation and return privatized water systems to localities for affordable and equitable management.

Local communities in Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Gabon, Uganda, and a host of other African countries are making this their focal demand as they mark the second edition of Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatization which holds from 11-14 October 2022 to coincide with annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The communities, working in collaboration with civil society and labour groups under the aegis of the Our Water Our Right Africa Coalition will be holding townhall meetings, community engagements, press briefings, protest marches, meetings with policy makers and a host of engagements to press home their opposition to water privatization schemes and the commodification of water, promoted by the World bank and other International Financial Institutions, which continue to deprive communities their right to existence. In some communities, water has been priced out of the reach of locals, forcing women and young girls to go the extra mile, including exposing themselves to dangers to get water for basic needs.

The communities, working in concert with civil society and labour, insist that while water remains one of the most fundamental necessities for life, giant corporations like Veolia and Suez, backed by international financial institutions like the World Bank are exploiting this basic need by trying to privatise water across the African continent, threatening to leave millions of people in communities suffering without water.

Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), explaining the significance of the 2022 commemoration said:

“When communities are deprived of a basic right which guarantees their existence and the bond that has kept them connected to their culture and spirituality for generations, will ultimately cease to exist. That is why communities are leading resistance to what corporations like Veolia and institutions like the World Bank are marketing on the African continent. But the message is clear. We do not want our water systems privatized”

On the impacts of water privatisation on communities, Younoussa Abbosouka, Programme Officer at the African Center for Advocacy said:

« With water privatization, there is a monopoly over a resource that is not supposed to belong to anyone except for local communities to sustain their vital needs. These communities have effective alternatives centred on community-based water management, which promotes community interest and well-being. They are opposed to any idea of privatization of this basic social service! »

The inaugural Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatization which held from 11 -15 October 2021 was spearheaded by civil society and labour groups on the continent. The high point was the launch of a report – Africa Must Rise & Resist Water Privatisation – which details how privatisation has become the most potent threat to Africans’ human right to water. It cites water privatisation failures in the United States, Chile, and France as lessons for African governments being pressured by the World Bank and a host of multilateral financial institutions to toe the privatization path. The Portuguese and French versions of the report will be unveiled at a press briefing on October 11 where stories and realities of African communities will be showcased in videos to kickstart the week of action.

A key demand of the communities is that their governments halt privatization plans and instead, invest in public water systems that include meaningful public participation in water governance, with particular focus on the perspectives of those typically left out of decision-making processes, including but not limited to women, low-income people, and rural communities.

African Communities Raise their Voices Against Water Privatisation

Contributeur 10 octobre 2022 0 Comments

The conditions that prompted Cameroon to privatise the public water service in 2008 are once again multiplying on the ground. Between untimely water cuts, deterioration of installations and bad management practices, the public company (Camwater) which produces and distributes drinking water, is struggling to provide the precious liquid in quantity and quality to an ever-growing population. Fearing a return to another privatisation of the public water service in Cameroon, the African Centre for Advocacy (ACA) calls on the government of Cameroon to take responsibility.

In Cameroon, public control of the water service is once again in jeopardy and activists are worried that history might repeat itself.

« The Cameroonian government must not repeat the mistake of 2008, when under the influence of the World Bank, it privatized the water sector, » says Younoussa Abbosouka, advocacy officer with the African Centre for Advocacy (ACA).

Back then, privatization was supposed to deliver improved infrastructure and lower prices — but neither materialized. Though water was renationalized in 2018, numerous shortcomings continue to hamper the provision of clean water to the population. « We suffer badly of water shortages. Now it’s at midnight or one o’clock that we get up to check if water is flowing from the tap, and most of the time nothing flows even at that time. On rare occasions when it does, you see coloured water coming out of the tap. We have no other choice than to fetch water at the natural water source, which is down the quarter.” Says Cedric Nouta, a Yaounde city dweller.

In a report published on 18 August 2022, Cameroon Water Utilities (Camwater), the public concessionaire of drinking water (production and commercialization) in Cameroon, confessed its role in the drinking water crisis that the city of Yaounde, the country’s capital, has been experiencing for several months. According to the public company, the episodic shortages observed in the capital are mainly linked to the numerous malfunctions of the Akomnyada water collection and treatment station, located 35 km east of the city.

“Today, the water problems we have in Cameroon are mainly related to technical problems at the various pumping stations. The state is currently solving these problems and everything will be back to normal by September 30, 2022.” explains Joseph Marie Bienvenue Eyafa, Camwater Regional Director of Yaounde

“It is out of consideration to go back to the privatization scheme of CAMWATER, this will demonstrate that Camwater is unable to ensure the management and distribution of water to Cameroonian citizens. No, Camwater is not superseded because Camwater is the state. We went through 10 years of privatization and it clearly didn’t work. We wouldn’t have these problems today if water management had not been privatized.” Eyafa said.

In 2009, the government invested nearly 4 billion CFA francs, or just over 6 million dollars, to rehabilitate and extend this infrastructure. « But since the work was completed in 2017, this station has never produced the expected volume (300,000 m³ per day). Its production oscillates between 120,000 and 150,000 m3 per day. However, the demography is galloping and the demand for water has become very alarming with the multiplication of new districts, » says the Camwater report. According to official figures, the demand for drinking water in Yaoundé and Mbalmayo, two towns supplied by the Akomnyada catchment station, is currently around 300,000 m³ per day.

For Camwater, the weakness of this station in the production of drinking water is explained, among other reasons, by the abnormal operation of the electric pump units; the failure of the automatic operation of the electric pump units; the difficulty of intervening on electrical problems; the discordance of the valves in the event of a power cut; the insufficient depth of laying of the suction pipes; the non-immobilization of the suction pipes at the bottom of the river; the small size of the suction strainers, etc.

Technical failures such as those recorded at the Akomnyada water station do not in themselves justify the drinking water crisis in Cameroon. On the 27 July 2022, the Central Regional Delegation of Camwater announced that it had been the victim of massive theft of water meters in the town of Mbalmoyo. According to the company, this phenomenon is the result of ill-intentioned individuals who sell their booty to weed cultivators.

Internal management problems at Camwater are also affecting the supply of drinking water. Earlier this year, in an open letter addressed to the Head of State, the National Union of Drinking Water Employees (Sneep) denounced the « chaotic management » of the public water service, marked by, among other things, « a massive mafia, peddling, lies, mismanagement, backbiting, swindling, cronyism, corruption and embezzlement of public funds ».

Sneep initially threatened and then postponed a strike after a crisis meeting held on 9 February 2022 in Douala (Cameroon’s economic capital) with Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba, who committed to obtaining the necessary resources to finance the functioning of Camwater.

Faced with the state’s « inability » to effectively provide the public water service, Abbosouka and the ACA has increased lobbying, media advocacy as well as labour engagements to push for reduced taxes for any household that consumes less than 20 cubic meters of water per month. ACA has enjoined the national water distribution company, Camwater to establish water pricing by categorizing the price per cubic meter of water by the type of customer. This greatly increased the number of low-income households connected to the water system.

“The African Center for Advocacy is closely monitoring privatization threats in Cameroon and in other African countries. We believe that the fight against privatization, austerity, neoliberalism and corruption is intimately linked with the fight for the human right to water. This fight necessitates at national, regional and international level.’’ Explains Younoussa Abbosouka, ACA Program Officer.

Thus, in 2020, the not-for-profit organization pressed the government to invest 27.3 billion (close to 4.7 million dollars) on a rehabilitation project aimed at extending and increasing water supply capacity in other cities of the country like Edea and Bertoua by 56% and 88% respectively.

According to Abbosouka, privatizing the sector would lead to various disasters, such as tariff increases, lack of public accountability and transparency, higher operating costs, worse customer service and job losses. Others agree.

« Water privatisation enriches some government officials and multinationals and at the same time contributes to the spread of poverty among the majority of the population,” says Chief Ewoukem Godson, president of the National Autonomous Union of Energy, Water and Mining Workers of Cameroon (Synateec).

In 2008, when the Cameroonian government privatized the public water service to Cameroon Water Utilities (Camwater), it thought it had chosen the right solution. This was not the case. The promised infrastructure has not been built, the price of water has increased. Women, children, girls and people with disabilities were the most affected. This is when the ACA began to advocate for the state to take back control of the water sector.

Following successful examples from external partners like Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) in Nigeria, the ACA began to take action, taking into account the specificities of Cameroon. The organisation begun by asking the population if they knew that water is a human right. Statistics revealed that, a vast majority of the population is unaware of this right. Hence, awareness-raising campaigns followed on the field. Once this was done, the organization went on to identify different groups (trade unions, religious groups, civil society) and created a coalition to share a common idea, that of claiming the right to water.

One of the main difficulties in this process was to be heard at the state level, as the organization of marches was systematically forbidden, as such, the ACA opted to organize meetings with members of government, ones that included international partners. These actions contributed to the termination in October 2018 of the concession between the State of Cameroon and Cameroon Water Utilities, making Camwater the public company in charge of the production and distribution of drinking water in the country.

On 13 October 2021 in Yaoundé, the ACA took part in a public demonstration to denounce the role of the World Bank in the privatisation of water management in Africa. Together with partners such as Corporate Accountability and Public Participation (Nigeria), Corporate Accountability (USA), Public Services International and End Water Poverty, the ACA rejects all forms of corporate control and privatisation of water services, including through Public-Private Partnerships.

The ACA will not give up its fight as long as the cloud of privatisation hangs over the water sector in Cameroon. « Our challenge today is to have the right to water recognized in the Cameroonian constitution, as is the case in Kenya, » Abbosouka says. This civil society actor remains vigilant in the face of suspicious manoeuvres, undertaken according to him by groups like Veolia and Suez. « The private sector is using a new technique by creating problems between the company that manages water and the minister in charge to come and present itself as a saviour, » he warns.

The African Center for Advocacy’s Keep Water in Public Hands project is one of twelve inspiring stories of local transformation shortlisted for the 2022 Transformative Cities People’s Choice Award. Transformative Cities is a global process to search and support transformative practices and responses that are tackling global crises at the local level. You can still vote for the initiative that you find deserves more attention and resources to scale up until the 6th of November at: https://transformativecities.org.

CAMEROON: Activists fear public water service will be privatized again.

Fanta Mabo 7 octobre 2022 0 Comments

The African Center for Advocacy (ACA) has been named one of the finalists for the Transformative Cities People’s Choice Award 2021-2022, joining 11 other finalists that are up for votes starting from today (October 6th, 2022) through November 6th, 2022.

ACA initiative, “Keep Water in Public Hands!” was selected for the Transformative Cities People’s Choice Award 4th edition 2021-2022 in the water category.

The Transformative Cities initiative was launched in 2019 in partnership with civil society organizations, media, labor unions and grassroots movements to stop corporate’s agenda of forcing the Cameroonian government to privatize again, the water sector.

ACA Programme Officer, Younoussa Abbosouka said: the “Keep Water in Public Hands!” initiative reinforces our argument that the Cameroonian government must not make similar mistake like in 2008, when under the pressure from the World Bank, it privatized the water sector.”

He explained that the privatization of water led to various crisis arising from rate increases, lack of public accountability and transparency, higher operating costs, poor customer service and loss of jobs.

According to him, the “Keep Water in Public Hands!” initiative is one of the 12 finalists selected because of the community buy-in and support for the cause that seeks to leave no one behind.

“The provision of decent social services by the public sector or government is at the center of the struggle for democratic control and ownership of the water sector.”

“The recognition of the Keep Water in Public Hands Campaign is an opportunity to popularize and share our fighting experiences against inequality, corporate abuse, social exclusion and the violation of the human right to water.”

ACA is a non-profit organization based in Yaounde, Cameroon. We Put People First. Our mandate is to address issues related to the human right to water, climate change, health and governance.

ACA named finalist in the Transformative Cities People’s Choice Award

Fanta Mabo 6 octobre 2022 0 Comments

Tag: African Center for Advocacy (ACA)

New report catalogues climate impacts on African communities

African Communities Raise their Voices Against Water Privatisation

CAMEROON: Activists fear public water service will be privatized again.

ACA named finalist in the Transformative Cities People’s Choice Award