The Chairperson of the Coalition of NGO�s in Water and Sanitation, Farouk Braimah says the introduction of pre-paid water meters by the Ghana Water Company(GWC) will only deprive the poor and vulnerable Ghanians of water.
The GWC has announced plans to introduce prepaid meters services for water by the end of the year.
According to the GWC, the metering service would first be piloted in some communities in Accra and Kumasi.
But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr Braimah said GWC�s decision to pilot the project in the urban areas was not advisable since those areas were not having challenges with collecting revenue from consumers.
� According to the Ghana Water Company, they will pilot the prepaid metering system in areas where they don�t have challenges in collecting revenue so if they are not starting in the slums and in the densely populated areas of Accra in the urban centres, then there is no transparency.�
He further stated that the introduction of prepaid metering systems in some parts of the world only caused problems.
�Our own Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Philippines are all practising prepaid metering system, they started it and the consequences were dire. In fact for South Africa we realised that when the prepaid meters were introduced, issues around diarrhoea and cholera increased.�
Mr. Braimah further stated that there was no transparency in the discussions concerning GWC�s intended decision.
In that regard, he called for more transparency to make the discussion more participatory by Ghanaians.
�There is a lack of transparency in the whole discussion so we are saying that let us have a full disclosure as to when they are going to commence this project, which part of the city they will commence this activity.Lets find out what the themes are,then we can all participate in this discussion,�Mr. Braimah said.
He asked the company to drop the idea since it is not ready to offer such services.
�This whole discussion around prepaid meters is not a bad idea but the GWC is not ready. As people of this country, we feel strongly that the poor people, the average Ghanaian, teachers, nurses, and former workers will all feel the pinch. We are saying that all the calls around prepaid meters should be halted.�
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