In search of the 'Right Formula'

 My last article left us pondering, if privatising water supplies and decentralising regulatory provision isn’t the solution to the biggest challenges to water management in East Africa, challenges being: climate change, inadequate funding and political mishandling, then what is the solution? What is the right formula? So to speak. In this segment I want to discuss how the movement to privatise water supplies and the aforementioned political pressure from international organisations has left many African cities and rural communities back at square one and in this reveal some of the the socio-political impacts of standardising water provision across East Africa, 

One article dives straight into this complex question, Golooba-Mutebi 2012 dissects public and private driven water provision in two specialised East African case studies; Rwanda and Uganda. Echoing the transitions many countries had made in the late 80s, Rwanda and Uganda, to decentralise and shift away from centralised public administration system as part of a new strategy for reformist governments and also like many other developing countries which sought decentralisation as a cure, they were sorely disappointed. In the case of Rwanda and Uganda, Golooba- Mutebi argued that decentralisation proved ‘intractable’ and often for the same reasons the centralised systems had failed.  So here they were, back at square one, rural communities were still cut off and underfunded and disempowered, political corruption rife and mishandling of urban planning still a large issue. However, Rwanda and Uganda eventually adopted private-public partnerships as an alternative and medium to the failures of an either highly centralised or decentralised system but is the right formular really that black and white? Inspite of this ‘solution’ Golooba-Mutebi attributes success of public goods provisions to “vertical and horizontal coordination, inspection and supervision, and the strength of accountability enforcement mechanisms” (Golooba- Mutebi, 2012: 431) rather than the mode of water provision. Similarly, Bayliss 2003, argues that the impact of privatisation depends on the initial state of the enterprise and the political foundation of the host country and therefore is the dependent variable. Echoing this sentiment Pierce, 2014 argues that the demise of water privatization has been greatly exaggerated and stigmatized, with the word “privatisation’ often misused and denouncing the substantive changes in practice. Overall, Pierce recognises a place for privatisation and even more so for public-private partnerships (PPP) in this ever expanding and globalised world. The World Bank Group notes a rapidly growing trend in PPP, with large reforms such as Build-Operate-Transfer, performance-based contracts and the consolidation of large national operators to name a few to tackle the many issues faced in the past. However, the most important feature of this growing trend has been the overall push for more customised approach to water PPP design, the push has been for more country specific implementations, governments aiding the design with private firms. PPP may take a bigger place in society in the future but other factors must be noted in order for the successful operation and deliverance of water supplies. 

This has left me wondering, are we thinking water provision all wrong? Are we placing too much emphasis on the mode of water provision and thus creating unrealistic and unattainable standardisations of public provisions when in fact they will inherently function differently from state to state? What if the right formula isn’t centralisation, privatisation and public-private partnerships and instead ensuring that the appropriate political and economic framework is established in order to create a system for water provision that matches the needs and wants of the state across all urban and rural boundaries? Is there a single or ‘right’ formula?  

References:  

Golooba-Mutebi, F. (2012). In search of the right formula: public, private and community driven provision of safe water in Rwanda and Uganda. Public Administration and Development, 32, 4-5, 430-443. 

Bayliss, K. (2003). Utility Privatisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of Water. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 41, 4, 507-531.  

Pierce, G. (2014). Beyond the Strategic Retreat? Explaining Urban Water Privatisation’s Shallow Expansion in Low- and Middle-income Countries. Journal of Planning Literature, 30, 2, 119-131. 

Delmon- Rigby, V. (N.a). 5 Trends in Public-Private Partnerships in Water Supply and Sanitation. World Bank Group.  Available at: https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/5-trends-public-private-partnerships-water-supply-and-sanitation.