By Daniel Kanu
The Our Water, Our Right Africa Coalition has rejected water privatisation and prepaid metering systems, warning that commercialising water services could deny poor and vulnerable households access to an essential human right.
The coalition called on African governments to prioritise publicly funded water supply systems, improve access to safe and affordable drinking water, and strengthen public institutions responsible for water delivery.
It made the call during the 2026 Africa Week of Action Against Privatisation, held in Lagos, with the theme, “Reclaiming Africa’s Water Future: Public Water for All.”
The event attracted water rights activists, labour leaders, civil society organisations and campaigners from different parts of Africa and beyond, who participated physically and virtually.
The coalition urged African governments to reject privatisation, commercialisation, concessions, public-private partnerships, outsourcing, management and lease contracts, as well as prepaid water metering systems that could place access to water under commercial control.
It also called for clear and measurable national and regional financing commitments for water and sanitation, including benchmarks for public investment in the sector.
Reading the coalition’s press statement, Geoffrey Occansey of the Water Citizens Network/Revenue Mobilisation Africa, Ghana, said OWORAC had developed a position paper titled “Implementing the Africa Water Vision 2063: An OWORAC Coalition Position on Water Justice, Public Financing and Democratic Water Governance.”
According to him, the document examines opportunities and gaps in implementing the Africa Water Vision 2063 and proposes measures to ensure that water governance is anchored in human rights, adequate public financing, accountability and community participation.
The coalition said access to safe, affordable and reliable water and sanitation services should be treated as a public responsibility rather than a privilege determined by an individual’s financial capacity.
It also demanded greater transparency in water-related contracts, financing arrangements, tariffs, resource allocation and public expenditure.
OWORAC further called for the meaningful participation of communities, workers, women and other affected groups in decisions concerning water resources and service delivery.
The coalition maintained that governments must strengthen and adequately fund public water institutions and utilities while protecting them from undue external interference and commercial interests.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, Akinbode Oluwafemi, warned that the growing commercialisation of water services threatened the rights of millions of people across the continent.
“Water is a human right. None of us can live without water,” Oluwafemi said, arguing that restricting access to water based on people’s ability to pay could endanger lives, particularly among low-income households.
He said governments had a responsibility to provide clean and accessible water for domestic use, urging African leaders to formulate policies that placed citizens’ welfare above corporate profit.
“Our government has a responsibility of providing clean, accessible water for domestic use,” he said.
Oluwafemi also expressed concern about the shrinking civic space in some African countries, stressing that communities and civil society organisations should be allowed to organise, raise concerns and challenge policies that threatened their access to essential services.
He called on the African Union and national governments to strengthen public water systems and ensure that water policies reflected the needs of ordinary citizens.
In her contribution, Amina Maina, National Coordinator of the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya, raised concerns about the introduction of smart water meters, particularly their affordability, privacy implications and potential to increase costs for households.
Maina said some smart metering systems relied on mobile payment platforms and continuous monitoring, while their installation and maintenance could cost more than those of conventional mechanical meters.
She also warned that the collection of household water consumption data could expose users to privacy risks, while connectivity failures, cybersecurity vulnerabilities and specialised maintenance requirements could create additional difficulties.
Maina questioned whether smart meters genuinely improved water management or introduced additional costs and mechanisms for controlling access to water.
The coalition argued that technology adopted in the water sector should improve access, accountability and service delivery rather than create new barriers for vulnerable communities.
From Senegal, the General Secretary of the Autonomous Union of Water Workers of Senegal, Oumar Ba, described his country’s experience with private water management as an example of the challenges associated with commercialising essential public services.
Ba alleged that multinational companies operating under Senegal’s privatised water management system generated profits while some communities continued to experience high bills, poor service quality and inadequate water supply, particularly during the summer months.
He also expressed concern about plans to introduce smart meters that could pave the way for prepaid water systems, under which supply might automatically stop when a customer’s purchased allocation was exhausted.
“This is a clear example of an inhuman form of capitalism taken to the extreme, one that treats water as a commodity rather than as a common good that is essential to life,” Ba said.
He called for publicly accountable water systems that could provide reliable services to communities while protecting the rights and welfare of water sector workers.
Ba’s remarks reflected the coalition’s broader concern that systems designed primarily around revenue collection could leave households unable to afford water without adequate safeguards for vulnerable consumers.
Similarly, the Executive Director of Green Scenery in Sierra Leone, Joseph Rahall, called for adequately funded and democratically controlled public water systems.
Rahall warned that commercial interests in water supply could lead to higher tariffs and exclude poor communities from reliable access to the resource.
He maintained that public institutions should be strengthened to ensure that water services were accessible to all, irrespective of income or social status.
The coalition argued that sustainable water delivery required long-term public investment, effective institutions, transparent management and active citizen participation.
The Research Director at Corporate Accountability, Neil Gupta, also criticised the involvement of multinational water companies in the management of water systems across Africa.
Gupta cited Veolia and Suez as examples of multinational companies pursuing roles in water services and raised concerns about the potential consequences of privatisation, including unaffordable bills, labour abuses and environmental damage.
He also questioned the role of international institutions in promoting arrangements that could expand commercial participation in water services.
The coalition called for greater scrutiny of agreements involving private water operators, insisting that governments should disclose the terms of water-related contracts and ensure that public interest considerations took precedence over commercial objectives.
In Nigeria, the National President of the Precision, Electrical and Related Equipment Senior Staff Association, Comrade Rufus Olusesan, criticised water privatisation and questioned the level of access to piped water in Lagos despite public spending on water infrastructure.
Olusesan argued that privatisation could prioritise profit over the needs of communities, urging the government to complete existing water projects and expand distribution networks to underserved areas.
He also called for democratic oversight of public water services involving communities, labour unions and civil society organisations.
“Water is life. Let’s take it back now or never,” he said.
Olusesan’s position underscored the coalition’s demand for greater accountability in the management of public resources committed to water infrastructure and service delivery.
The coalition maintained that investments in water infrastructure would have limited impact on ordinary citizens if the facilities were not completed, adequately maintained or connected to communities that needed them.
Beyond its opposition to privatisation and prepaid metering, OWORAC called on African governments to adopt clear financing frameworks that would guarantee sustained investment in water supply and sanitation.
It said governments should establish measurable national and regional commitments, including public investment benchmarks, to improve planning, implementation and accountability.
The coalition also called for stronger public institutions and utilities capable of delivering reliable services without undue commercial interference.
It stressed that communities, workers, women and other affected groups must have a meaningful role in water governance, including decisions on tariffs, infrastructure development, resource allocation and service delivery.
OWORAC further urged African water justice movements to strengthen cross-border solidarity and coordinate efforts to defend access to water as a fundamental human right.
The campaign comes amid continuing concerns across Africa about inadequate water infrastructure, unreliable supply, sanitation challenges and the affordability of essential services.
For the coalition, addressing these challenges requires governments to treat water supply as a core public responsibility and ensure that policies and investments are designed around people’s needs.
It maintained that Africa’s water future should be built on equitable access, transparent governance, democratic participation and adequately financed public institutions, rather than arrangements that make access to water dependent on household purchasing power.
