WATER-RATIONING NO FIX FOR THE “KUFUOR-GALLON” PHENOMENON!

From the standpoint of the saboteurs within the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), who are busy working hard on behalf of their erstwhile masters in the previous regime, to help destroy the new Mills administration, “water-rationing” is a perfect cover for their nation-wrecking activities. Many of the inhabitants of the city of Accra are now wondering if it was the same GWCL that told them, when President Kufuor inaugurated the interconnecting-pipeline (that apparently links the western and eastern parts of the city to the different water-production facilities serving the two parts of Accra), that water shortages would become a thing of the past.

The beauty of spreading the pain and inconvenience of not having water regularly to virtually every household in Accra, by “rationing” it, in the view of the nation-wreckers within the GWCL, is that it guaranties the disaffection of millions of Accra’s residents with the Mills administration – and is a potent addition to the series of “narratives-of-failure” being prepared by the NPP’s various propaganda offshoots (such as the so-called Danquah Institute – named after that neo-colonialist quisling, Akan tribal-supremacist, and hireling of the CIA), to be disseminated throughout the country, during the campaign for the December 2012 elections. Not having water flowing through taps in households across Accra is simply intolerable – and the government must make it plain to those in charge of the GWCL that it will sack them if the situation continues.

The Mills administration must not forget that the prospect of seeing an end to the phenomenon of the “Kufuor-gallon” (that it promised those living in the city it would banish once in power), was a key factor in attracting votes (especially those of many of Accra’s discerning and independent-minded “floating-voters”) in that part of our country, for the National Democratic Congress’ presidential candidate: who is now Ghana’s president. If Accra’s residents fail to get water flowing through their taps on a daily basis soon, they will regard it as an egregious failing of the Mills administration – and make them feel that they must vote the regime that promised them they would see an end to the “Kufuor-gallon” phenomenon if they voted their party into office, but failed to do so upon winning power, out of office, in December 2012.

The simple question that many of Accra’s residents would like to ask the new Mills administration is: Are there not many cities around the globe that have populations far in excess of Ghana’s total population of some twenty-three millions, which provide potable water for their residents on a daily basis, without fail? Surely, ensuring that the residents of a city of only a few millions have water flowing through the taps in their homes daily, and on a regular basis, ought not to be an insurmountable problem for those in charge of Nkrumah’s Ghana in the 21st century ICT age? Clearly, the GWCL’s corporate culture isn’t customer-focused. One gets the impression that the interests of its politically well-connected local suppliers determine its fate – and obviously most of them did enjoy the patronage of the previous regime, whose demise they rue. The solution to the myriad of problems facing the GWLC is not to privatize it – it is simply to put it into the hands of efficient, disciplined, incorruptible, and selfless public-sector managers.

To ensure that the saboteurs in the GWCL are thwarted, the NDC must make sure that the Mills administration rids the company of the baleful influence of that self-serving stalking-horse (Aqua Vitens Rand Limited) currently casting such a long and unwelcome shadow over the state-owned water company. In the long-term, putting the GWCL under the control of the 48 Engineers Regiment, and making water production an integral part of that regiment’s mission, will change the ethos underpinning what is an unwieldy commercial entity, far too large to control, for the civilians tasked to run it. Only the 48 Engineers Regiment can save the GWCL from itself. That, and giving the company a monopoly over the production of filtered bottled water that is specially branded to replace the ubiquitous (and dangerous!) sachet water – the production of which must be banned for public health reasons as soon as it is practicable to do so.

The truth of the matter is that no matter the brand, sachet water is just not wholesome for human beings to consume – because the pores in the plastic container always expand and open to admit pollutants whenever the weather is hot. And as we all know, as a result of global climate change, temperature figures are a great deal higher now, than at any time in our history. The many private companies currently producing sachet water can become the distributors of the GWCL’s specially-branded bottled filtered water that will replace the sachet water those companies produce. At a time when the entire world now experiences pandemics of one sort or the other, from time to time, with regularity, the water Ghanaians buy to drink on the move, in restaurants, and elsewhere, must always be wholesome. Above all, it is imperative that potable water flows through taps in homes and other kinds of properties throughout urban Ghana, on a daily basis, for public health reasons.

The Mills administration must not think for a moment that it can possibly win the next presidential and parliamentary elections if it does not keep its December 2008 campaign promise to end the city of Accra’s never-ending water shortage. Rationing water is definitely no fix for the “Kufuor-gallon” phenomenon – and every day that passes by without Accra’s residents seeing a resolution of a very worrying problem facing them, makes them feel that the NDC made an empty promise to them when it said it would bring an end to the “Kufuor-gallon” phenomenon. Water rationing was never part of the bargain Accra’s voters struck with the NDC – and it is most certainly not a fix for the “Kufuor-gallon” phenomenon, as far as they are concerned. Let the powers that be give us a time-frame within which the problem will be fixed – and act fast to end this intolerable situation, which has led to an existence akin to hell on earth, for families in the city struggling to maintain basic hygiene, in homes without potable water. A word to the wise…