Ghana’s national water supply integrity study : mapping transparency, accountability and participation in service elivery : an analysis of the wat...

Ghana started a water sector reform process in the 1990s and approved its national water policy in 2007. The reform process has led to better distribution of tasks among different government institutions and the development of laws, rules and procedures including a code of ethics, codes of conduct, manuals to maintain the quality of service delivery, and procurement and auditing rules. The policy is largely focused on local involvement for example in siting of water points and selection of water committees. Unfortunately there is no process in place to explore possible gaps and overlaps in legislation and institutional responsibilities. Also the operationalization of the legislation is a problem and needs to take into account customary law. In terms of service provision, considerable limitations exist including for example: cases of interference in decision making by politicians; the regulator for urban water supply is not sufficiently independent and has resource limitations and hence cannot regulate urban providers; there is no independent regulator for rural water supply and the water committees are no legal entities and thus cannot be prosecuted. Another important challenge that exists is that many users (on average 70% in urban areas) depend on informal water providers including, local borehole and well owners and local water vendors but these crucial services are not regulated or controlled. A considerable proportion of informal providers buy their water from the formal providers at the higher commercial tariff which adds to the cost for their clients, often the poorer population. [authors abstract]