Ex-Ghanaian leader to head water body
By Sanday Chongo Kabange in Hong Kong
Former Ghanaian
president, John Agyekum Kufuor, has been named head of the world water body -
Sanitation and Water for All partnership. Kufuor, who ruled the West African
state 2001 to 2009 and former Chairperson of the African Union from will be the
first high-level Chair of the Sanitation and Water for All partnership.
He
is said to be a passionate global advocate for leadership, governance and
development and widely regarded for his African and international statesmanship
and his contributions have been recognized through awards such as the 2011
World Food Prize, said Geneva
based Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council. “The dream of sanitation and water for every person is within reach, but it will take a great deal of political will, adequate resources, and coordinated efforts,” Kufuor said in accepting the position.
“I am committed to making this happen, because I am not content to live in a world where 2.6 billion people lack access to a decent toilet and 900 million people do not have clean water to drink.”
Sanitation and Water for All is an alliance of governments, donors, civil society organizations, development partners and water and sanitation agencies.
It is working to increase funding, improve the efficiency of resource use and strengthen the evidence base for the water supply and sanitation sector.
The partnership convenes a biennial high level meeting to raise political awareness, supports countries in their efforts to develop action-oriented plans and works with UN-WATER and WHO to produce the Global Analysis and Assessment of Drinking Water and Sanitation report.
Kufuor will chair the next SWA high level meeting at the World Bank in Washington, DC, on 20 April 2012.
The meeting will bring together Finance Ministers and Water Ministers from developing countries, along with their counterparts from donor countries and sector experts and will focus on the significant economic gains that can be made from investing in sanitation and water and the costs of failing to invest.
“Former President Kufuor has long been a campaigner for better access to water and sanitation.” said Darren Saywell, SWA vice-Chair. “His leadership will help bring greater political attention to this neglected development issue”.
africanNews
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