Kenya’s President, William Ruto, has called for political goodwill in mobilising resources for the Continental Africa Water Investment Programme.
Speaking in Sharma El-Sheikh, Egypt, during the International High-Level Panel on water investment for Africa, President Ruto said the Programme which seeks to close the existing water investment gap in Africa, must demonstrate robust governance to attract investment.
“It must be intentional and directed to the purpose of solving fundamental water sector challenges,” he said.
The President explained that all water sector stakeholders including providers, regulators and users must routinely engage in problem-solving.
This approach will foster public legitimacy, citizen confidence and sustainable participatory engagement.
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“Mainstreaming transparent practices across water institutions is indispensable for greater legitimacy in the sector’s governance,” Ruto said.
The Panel is expected to charter actionable pathways for mobilising $30 billion annually by 2030.
The Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) is a pan-African programme transforming the investment outlook for climate-resilient water and sanitation investments on the continent. The goal of the AIP is to mobilise $30 billion in investments by 2030 across Africa, while creating 5million indirect and direct jobs.
Meanwhile, Private firms in Kenya will be allowed to invest in water and sell to the national government as the government moves to attract new capital to bridge the $5 billion funding deficit to ensure universal access to clean water.
President William Ruto said his government plans to turn to the private sector to increase access to clean water alongside other capital-intensive projects that it cannot immediately afford.
Under the proposed arrangements, private firms will build dams and drill water in large-scale then sell the commodity to State-owned water agencies who will supply it to homes and other public entities at lower charges.
