Learning from our mistakes

Some final thoughts…
Two contrasting examples of water privatisation in sub-Saharan African countries were analysed and discussed to illustrate the effectiveness of different reform schemes in the last two posts. As this series of posts comes to an end, I would like to use the platform to conclude with some thoughts I have developed through the research I’ve done and conversations I have had about it.


The examples of water privatisation outlined how one method has been used by sub-Saharan states to counter and prevent violent activity over water scarcity or mismanagement of the resource. The contracts and concessions in Guinea and Ivory Coast differ hugely, the most notable and influential difference I have found to be the difference in institutional endowments granted by the state.
What can we learn from Ivory Coast?
I have strongly supported the argument that Ivory Coast water privatisation was predominantly successful and has shown extreme potential as a framework. During a period where population growth experienced a huge boom and economic crisis struck (Blog Post, 2018), the service sector provided good quality water to an expanding network whilst keeping tariffs low. A large part of the success was due to two factors: (1) the contractual arrangement being implemented in a secure institutional framework that provided a stable base for the minor reform and (2) the private operator’s strong performance. The reform entailed only minor adjustments to the existing contract rather than setting up a new system or approach to the entire sector (this was the case in the major Guinean reform), further adding to the effectiveness.
In the previous post I briefly outlined a number of issues. Problems in relation to the public sector withholding payments, and a lack of competition and risk for the private operator (Ménard and Clarke, 1997) led to a monolateral regime in this sector. The comparatively high water prices in Abidjan to those in countries with similar HDI and GDP rankings in South American countries remain high, tracing back to the lack of competition in the urban areas in Ivory Coast.
In turn, such power gave the private operator huge freedom for investment. This loophole in the contract was widened by the lack of monitoring of the private operator as a direct consequence of the quarrel between the public agencies over responsibility (Blog Post, 2018).
When looking at the changes made during the reform, I realised that by allocating more responsibility to the private operator, this alleviated any accountability of the state and the governmental bodies in the water sector. Thus, problems before the reform were most probably situated within the government’s involvement in the sector.
In contrast to water sectors in other African urban centres, Abidjan has delivered sustained performance. Moreover, Ivory Coast has shown exemplary progress in relation to the water systems of other sub-Saharan countries, providing a model framework that has been broadly adapted by other countries in hope of similar improvement (Ménard and Clarke, 1997).
Concluding statement
I hope that I have given you some insights into the complexity of the subject and the immediacy of the issues that continue to exist today. Delving into the politics of water I soon grasped the immense multiplicity of cases, problems and situations that exist in this field and came to appreciate the great diversity across the continent. Research around the political aspect of water availability, management of such resources and the theoretical framework remains sparse to say the least. Making information on past regimes, reforms, conflicts over water, past resolutions of such conflicts or past preventative approaches accessible to governments as well as corporations, international bodies and other players, would greatly benefit the prevention of future conflict.
Through my research I found to have merely scratched the surface of a deeply politicised and complex topic, the immediacy and intricacy of which should not be underestimated. Water as a resource will always remain a building block of life on this planet and the environmental, political and social challenges around this resource do not appear to diminish in complexity.  To strive towards a more equitable approach to water management and prevent the inevitability of conflict over water, government agencies, private corporations, non-governmental institutions, charity organisations, industry experts and intellectuals must act in cooperation, present a degree of flexibility and adjust in order to effectively manage the individuality of a situation.

Credits: cawater-info.net


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