MAKING THE GHANA WATER COMPANY LIMITED A GOING CONCERN - FOR THE COMMON GOOD!

It is often said in Ghana that water is life. The availability of treated water, is also essential for the maintenance of personal hygiene, in every Ghanaian household.

And as virtually every Ghanaian knows (in a nation in which, for a majority of the citizenry, obtaining treated water for household chores, is a daily challenge), personal hygiene is key to preventing the transmission and spread of many infectious diseases, such as cholera and the deadly mutant strain of the E.coli.

It goes without saying, therefore, that one of the most effective ways of ensuring public health in our country, is to make treated water available to households and in other buildings (both public and private) nationwide, on a 24/7 basis, year round.

As a matter of fact, for the many Ghanaians who were fed up to the back teeth, with the water situation, over the entire disastrous period of Aqua Vitens Rand's (AVRL) management contract, it is totally unacceptable that over five decades after Ghana gained its independence, the relatively simple and straightforward business of providing treated water to Ghanaians nationwide, seems to be beyond the capacity of our country.

That is why having finally rid ourselves of AVRL (thanks in large measure, to the courage and sense of nationalism of the present sector minister, the Hon. A.S.K Bagbin), many ordinary Ghanaians feel that the time has come for some creative thinking to be done by the Government of Ghana, in the restructuring of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) - so that it can become an efficient entity, able to make available (and on a regular basis), treated water to homes as well as in other private and state-owned properties, nationwide.

And we need not attempt to reinvent the wheel, in such an exercise, either. One must also state emphatically, that the GWCL does not need any foreign management, in order to make it an efficient entity.

But let us begin by dealing with the vested interests that currently profit from the inefficiency of the GWCL.

Apart from those literally stealing treated water, through illegal connections to the GWCL's network of water distribution pipelines (for whom the law ought to be changed, so that they face mandatory jail terms, when convicted by the law courts, after their prosecution, when caught - as an effective deterrent to halting that menace!), the most powerful of the vested interests now profiting from the inefficiency of the GWCL, is the industry that has grown around the production and sale of filtered 'sachet water'.

And now that the problem of the provision (or more to the point, our nation's inability to provide Ghanaian households with treated water, and in sufficient volumes, on a daily basis, year round!), has become a political football, passed backwards and forwards amongst opposing political parties, perhaps the time has come for the ministerial team that oversees the water sector, to act with dispatch to resolve the treated water access problem, once and for all.

Whiles doing so, they can actually kill two birds with one stone - get rid of the 'sachet water' industry in Ghana permanently, and restructure the GWCL for maximum efficiency and profitability.

It is scandalous that rather than find a safer alternative over the years, officialdom still permits the production of 'sachet water' for sale to the general public - in what is supposed to be a civilised and modern African nation-state: widely regarded as a pacesetter in the continent.

Anyone who understands the science behind safe packaging for liquids, will confirm that the plastic containers in which filtered water is bagged and stored for sale to consumers in Ghana, is in the not-fit-for-purpose category.

Simply put, no matter who produces it (and all manner of individuals do so, incredibly), and even if done under the most hygienic of conditions (which is invariably often not the case, unfortunately), water for public consumption should never be allowed to be sold in such packaging.

For, the plastic material now used for it in Ghana, does not act as a barrier against external pollutants - which is exactly what tetra-pack packaging for liquids, does, for example.

Consequently, if it were the case that the interests of consumers, rather than that of 'sachet water' producers, was paramount, filtered water for sale in not-fit-for-purpose plastic sachets would never be allowed in Ghana - and no serious nation that cares about public health within its borders, would permit it.

With that public health aspect in mind, Parliament ought to pass a law banning it - and make the only other safe alternative, the bottling and sale of filtered treated water ("Nsupa" would be a perfect brand name for it, I dare say!) to the public, a legally sanctioned monopoly for the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).

That will ensure that filtered bottled water sold to ordinary people in Ghana, is of the highest international quality standard - and above all, actually fit and safe for human consumption.

However, to ensure that players in that disease-spreading industry are not put out of business completely, and to enable them still have businesses to run, the current producers of 'sachet water', could be licensed to become wholesalers of the GWCL's "Nsupa" filtered bottled water.

The GWCL's filtered bottled water production monopoly, dear reader, would be one of the novel ways for our nation to fund continued investment in the GWCL painlessly - and protect the health of Ghanaians at the same time too: whiles safeguarding the livelihoods of those that are currently sustained financially by 'sachet water' production.

To guarantee its long-term profitability and survival, the GWCL must also liaise with the relevant research institutes of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to find alternative water purification techniques.

In that regard, they would be wise to take keen interest in the latest promising research work by the Rice University team, which has looked at the use of "super sand", which results from coating coarse sand grains with graphite, for effective low-cost water purification.

The lead scientist for the study, is Professor Pulickel Ajayan. Perhaps officials of the Ghana Embassy in Washington DC could make contact with him and Dr Wei Gao, also from the Rice University, in Texas, on behalf of the GWCL and the CSIR - with a view to starting a conversation, which will bring about future collaboration between the two sides.

Incidentally, for readers interested in it, the team describes its work in the American Chemical Society journal, Applied Materials and Interfaces.

That's for starters. And now to the restructuring of the GWCL as a corporate entity - to make it an efficient, productive and profitable business.

To do so, all the government need do (and, incidentally, the same formula ought to be used in the restructuring of all state-owned entities, to help make them efficient and profitable!), is to simply give a 25 percent stake in the company, to the management and staff of the GWCL.

Giving a direct stake in the company to all those whose hard work ensures its survival and profitability, will make both management and workers commit themselves to changing the ethos underpinning their operations for the better, going forward.

By floating a further 25 percent stake on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), government will be able to raise sufficient interest-free funds, to inject into the company to re-capitalise it - and in so doing, also enable ordinary Ghanaians to acquire shares in the GWCL too: spreading the ownership of shares amongst ordinary Ghanaians, and helping to create a share-owning democracy in our country, in the process.

To assure the national treasury of being able to continue receiving dividends from the GWCL, for the national development kitty, the government can keep the rest of the shares it holds in the GWCL.

Surely, dear reader, If the present (and future!) top management of the GWCL are offered salary levels that are similar to that enjoyed by their industry counterparts globally (but on condition that they will be fired immediately, if they fail to meet set annual targets!), that will make the GWCL a super-efficient state-owned company, would it not?

And should we not do same for all the other state-owned entities in our homeland Ghana, such as: the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG); the Volta River Authority (VRA); Bui Dam Authority; the State Housing Company Limited; Intercity STC; Bunsaso Tyre Factory (and the rubber plantation that provides it with its main raw material), I ask?

One certainly hopes that the sector ministry's able and dedicated ministerial team, will consider such creative suggestions seriously - so that a viable way is found to change the fortunes of the GWCL: for the common good of all the people, in Nkrumah's Ghana. A word to the wise...

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