Stakeholders call for privatisation of water supply

"In the past year 17 towns have been connected to sewerage services, improving urban sewer coverage to 34 per cent. The area under irrigation increased by 7.2 per cent in the past year to over 700,000 acres through the National Expanded Irrigation program, community-based irrigation schemes, and other projects," Ruto said.

The President said the government's target is to improve water coverage to 80 per cent, sanitation to 85 per cent, land under irrigation to over 900,000 acres, by 2027.

He regretted that inadequate resources were hampering the realisation of universal water access and sanitation in Kenya.

"Leveraging on private sector investments is a panacea to address the sector's financing gaps," he said.

The 2024 WASIC theme, "Accelerating Investments for Sustainable Access to Water and Sanitation for all," set the stage for the conference's primary objective: to attract investors to water and sanitation sector with an emphasis on public-private partnerships (PPP) and blended financing mechanisms; which leverage commercial investment. Speaker after speaker hammered the point.

Danish ambassador to Kenya Stephan Schonemann offered the Danish model to achieving universal water supply and sanitation.

"We have water tariff - the price you pay for getting the water and the price you pay to get rid of it," the envoy said.

"The water tariff needs to ensure full cost recovery. This allows the utility to operate the infrastructure and invest in future development and improving services. The revenue needs to be collected. If the revenue stream runs dry - the taps run dry," he added.

"Water has no competition, which should make water even more precious. But, as a public good, water is under-valued, underpriced, and under-invested."

Bert Ubamadu, the Deputy Mission Director at USAID in charge of Kenya and East Africa, said Kenya faces a significant investment gap of over Sh2.2 trillion in the water and sanitation sector.

Migori County CEC in charge of water and energy Christopher Rusana (center) together with other county officials wash their hands using the water from the newly drilled borehole on January 26, 2024. [Caleb Kingwara, Standard]

Warui said whether to privatise the water sector or not presents a catch-22 situation: "On one hand there is inefficiency and corruption. On the other water might be available but accessibility would be determined by one's ability to pay, hence it ceases being a right."

Marcel Schreurs, the Managing Director of Maji Milele, a private water service provider handling four schemes in Siaya and one in Homabay, said there is no way, for efficiency and sustainability in the water services sector, cost can be circumvented.

Speaking at WASIC, Schreurs said: "If we want service provision we need to finance it. There are three Ts. The first one is transfer (donor money). It can be nice but you won't always have. The second one is Tax; the exchequer. Yet, government budgets are always restricted. The last T is Tariff - what consumers pay. This it is the most important T."

WASIC provided the platform for the launch of the National Water and Sanitation Investment and Financing Plan (NAWASIP): a document that details the government's pathway towards achieving universal access to water and sanitation, which includes investments from the private sector.

"In the next five years we plan to construct 100 dams through PPP; to harness private sector financing," said the President.

The big question is; will privatization plans make water accessible to everyone regardless of their social status?