Water activist rewarded

A GHANAIAN lawyer and human rights campaigner has won recognition for his work to stop water being privatised.

Rudolf Amenga-Etego, who is campaigning against a privatisation scheme being backed by the World Bank, has won a 2004 Goldman environmental prize. The prizes, worth US$125 000 each, have been described as “the Nobel prize for the environment”, and honour activists.This year there are winners from North and Latin America, Africa, Europe, island nations, and two from Asia.Rudolf Amenga-Etego founded Ghana’s National Coalition Against the Privatisation of Water, an attempt to halt a US$400 m project which would have meant water being sold at full market rates.In a country where about 70 per cent of the people have no access to clean water, he says, it would be disastrous for the poor.Some Ghanaians already spend up to 20 per cent of their income on drinking water, Amenga-Etego says, and poor urban families sometimes have to choose between water and education.Last year, the government of Ghana agreed to suspend the project, but it is now working on a new plan along similar lines.Amenga-Etego told BBC News Online: “The overwhelming majority of Ghanaians are poor.Water privatisation is predicated on handing over our assets to a multi-national corporation for profit.”So it will automatically price water out of the reach of the poor.It’s important to keep water in the public domain with accountable officials, not shareholders.”- BBCThe prizes, worth US$125 000 each, have been described as “the Nobel prize for the environment”, and honour activists.This year there are winners from North and Latin America, Africa, Europe, island nations, and two from Asia.Rudolf Amenga-Etego founded Ghana’s National Coalition Against the Privatisation of Water, an attempt to halt a US$400 m project which would have meant water being sold at full market rates.In a country where about 70 per cent of the people have no access to clean water, he says, it would be disastrous for the poor.Some Ghanaians already spend up to 20 per cent of their income on drinking water, Amenga-Etego says, and poor urban families sometimes have to choose between water and education.Last year, the government of Ghana agreed to suspend the project, but it is now working on a new plan along similar lines.Amenga-Etego told BBC News Online: “The overwhelming majority of Ghanaians are poor.Water privatisation is predicated on handing over our assets to a multi-national corporation for profit.”So it will automatically price water out of the reach of the poor.It’s important to keep water in the public domain with accountable officials, not shareholders.”- BBC