Nigeria, Edo State: Police hold water board GM over N2.4 billion fraud

General Manager of the Edo State Water Board, Engineer Monday Umane and four other top staff have been arrested by the Edo State police command over a missing N2.4 billion [US$ 16.3 million] including an $18 million Paris Club facility to boost water supply to various parts of the state.

[...] The arrest was as a result of a letter from the office of the chief of staff to the governor, Mr Osarodion Ogie to the state police command to investigate cases of fraud and misappropriation of public funds. [T]he report of the Assets Verification Committee set up shortly after Comrade Adams Oshiomhole assumed office revealed that a total of 56 contracts were awarded by the government of Professor Oserheiemen Osunbor between May 2007 and November 11 2008 totaling over N2.4 billion to revamp water supply in the state.

He said the report showed that due process was not followed in the award and execution of the contracts just as the report revealed that huge sums were physically moved around and that some of the top officials being quizzed revealed to the committee that Umane only directed “how and where the money should be diverted”. Some of the documents obtained indicate that the General Manager proposed and got instant approvals on water projects from the then state governor; Professor Osereheimen Osunbor with dispatch even before the statutory due process of advertisement, tenders and opening of bids. The governor is empowered to award contracts of less than N100 million without recourse to the executive council.

Documents showed that contracts of such magnitude were treated with dispatch while those that were comparatively lower took longer times to get the approval of the governor.

Earlier,  the Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, [had been notified that] a N875 million [US$ 5.95 million] contract awarded by the state Urban Water Board for water supply in the state, a contractor, one Mr. Henry Ojiekhomon was paid the sum of N473 million [US$ 3.2 million] .for the seven water projects which he never executed.

Read more: Vincent Egunyanga, Daily Trust / allAfrica.com, 29 Jan 2009 and Gabriel Enogholase, Vanguard / allAfrica.com, 22 Jan 2009

Sierra Leone: Kenema Hospital undergoes toilet rehab

The Kenema district development mission, a group of Sierra Leoneans based in the United States, has commenced the rehabilitation of the deplorable state of the toilets at the government hospital following persistent cries from patients and members of the public for the facilities to be improved.

Chairman of the group, Francis Samba said as Sierra Leoneans and natives of the district, it should be their responsibility to always come to the aid of the community, especially on developmental matters.

He said the toilet condition, as reported by the hospital management, has been appalling, thus making it compelling for them to intervene and solve the problem.

“We are currently residing in the USA but we are very concern about the health of our people and the community. The toilet project, which is worth about Le7 million [US$ 109,000], will greatly benefit members of the hospital; we will continue to help whenever the need arises,” he said.

[...] Medical superintendent, Samuel Sesay [...] assured the group that the toilets would be properly maintained.

Source: Abrahim Abdulai, Concord Times / allAfrica.com, 27 Jan 2009

Sierra Leone: Plan observes ‘kaka free environment’

Sixteen latrines have been constructed using local materials and with the effective involvement and participation of children and women.

Ward councilor Sulaiman Sesay [...] Plan Sierra Leone for the strategy and encouraged other communities to emulate the ‘good example of Robareh’.

Country director Plan Sierra Leone Fadimata Alainchar [...] expressed gratitude to UK DfID for the support to the country office to facilitate such a ‘laudable process’. [...] He thanked partners for their support in achieving a Kaka-free community.

[...] Paramount Chief of Koya chiefdom, Kompa Bomboli [...] called on his people to “hold fast on the new health initiative (CLTS) and trigger other communities within the chiefdom so as to make their communities clean and safe.”

[...] About ten of such celebrations have already been done in the four programme units of Moyamba, Kailahun and Port Loko with a good number lined up for triggering.

Read more about CLTS in Sierra Leone here [new site, links to documents broken] and here [old site].

Source: Robareh Community, Concord Times / allAfrica.com, 28 Jan 2009

Uganda: Dfcu bank supports sanitation

DFCU bank has earmarked sh200m [US$ 102,000] for improving water supply and sanitation in Kampala, Lira and Arua. The bank signed a partnership deal with WaterAid [in July 2006] to implement the three-year Sanitation Improvement Project.

Susan Nsibirwa, the dfcu marketing manager, said at the launch of a modern water kiosk and a public toilet facility in Namuwongo A and B in Makindye sub-county in Kampala [...] that the bank was focusing on water, sanitation and hygiene because they are an essential foundation for other forms of community development and poverty eradication.

[...] Joseph Ssemmanda, the WaterAid program officer, commended dfcu bank for joining forces with the private sector to address the common concerns of safe water and sanitation to communities.

Source: Silvano Kibuuka, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 25 Jan 2009

Uganda, Nyadri district: schools without pit latrines will not open for first term

Education officials in Nyadri district have said schools with dilapidated pit-latrines will not open for the first term.The district inspector of schools, Flavia Droti, said six schools had so far been identified and they would only open after new latrines had been constructed. The first term starts on February 2, [2009].

Droti [...] said: “A report by inspectors of schools suggested that the state of pit latrines in most primary schools was wanting. Most of the latrines were in a dangerous condition and need to either be replaced or repaired.” Droti was responding to a statement by the district council chairman, Viga Kanon, calling for the situation to be rectified so that pupils report for next term on time.

[...] Kanon noted that Epa Primary School which has the highest enrolment, needs at least two new five-stance VIP latrines for both the pupils and teachers. He said the old pit-latrines would either collapse or sink because of the torrential rains that began in August [2008].

Source: Richard Adrama, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 25 Jan 2009

Ghana: drinking water treatment becoming more affordable with U.S. help

An affordable, sustainable drinking water treatment system designed by a U.S. laboratory is being used successfully in Ghana, India, Sri Lanka, Mexico, South America and the Philippines.

The technology, which uses ultraviolet light to disinfect water safely and cheaply, was designed by Ashok Gadgil at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

[...] The lab licensed the purification system to the U.S. firm WaterHealth International (WHI), which is working to expand access to affordable drinking water in developing countries.

[...] In the past, donated or purchased water treatment technology sometimes failed [...] because communities had to struggle to maintain the facilities.

To overcome this, WHI developed “WaterHealth Centres” where water is treated centrally for a small community using a variety of approaches, including:

• ultraviolet water disinfection technology, which is highly effective against harmful germs, and does not require high energy, high water pressure or sophisticated maintenance procedures;
• new buildings, which also can be used for community meetings and social events, to house the systems;
• local personnel hired and trained to operate and maintain the systems;
• hygiene and health education programs that emphasize the economic benefits of avoiding waterborne illnesses;
• narrow-neck water-storage containers to avoid water recontamination;
• marketing to inform residents of the water treatment and its benefits;
• financing for a portion of initial installation costs ($20 per person for a small village in India, for example).

WHI asks communities to make a down payment – sometimes provided by a local government, philanthropist or NGO – and then helps finance the remaining balance. Once the loan is repaid, the community owns the center.

To cover loan payments and operation and maintenance costs, consumers are charged a small fee for purified water. [O]ne village in Ghana charges 5 cents for 20 liters of treated water.

Local entrepreneurs often start businesses delivering treated water by bicycle or truck.

Customers at the WaterHealth Centre in Afuaman, Ghana, wait for their water.

[In Ghana] WHI partners with U.S. nonprofit World Vision Ghana for the health-education component of the program. In December 2007, WHI opened a pilot water center in Afuaman, serving about 3,700 people. [...] Construction of five additional WHI centers in Ghana will be completed by March [2009] in partnership with the U.S. nonprofit Safe Water Network, which funds the project.

“The government of Ghana has been extremely supportive at both the district level, by assisting the communities in raising the down payments, and at the federal level, by waiving import taxes and duties on imported equipment,” said Bismark Nerquaye-Tetteh, who has worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s West Africa Water Initiative.

Source: Nancy Pontius, America.gov, 12 Jan 2009

Uganda, Mukono District: local government offices lack toilets

Mukono district lacks toilets in the main administrative departments. The toilets at the treasury have been out of use for two years while the local administration Police station and the education department have not had good toilets for years. In 2004, Crest Tank donated mobile toilets to the two departments but no renovation has been done since that time.

[...] Three years ago, an Ecosan toilet was constructed at the Mukono Community Centre at a cost of sh100m [US$ 51,000] , but it was closed weeks after the district failed to acquire a steady supply of ash that could be used instead of water.

The education officer, Godfrey Serwanja, said: “We had planned to build pit latrines but we were advised to construct flush toilets because Mukono is moving towards becoming a municipality.” He said sh30m [US$ 15,000] would be used to construct the toilet during the next financial year.

Source: Alex Bukumunhe, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 11 Jan 2009

South Africa: Joburg Water, University Agree to expand research expertise

Johannesburg Water (JU) and University of Johannesburg (UJ) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding [on collaboration] on water and sanitation research and development projects [...] specifically in water nanotechnologies, water purification, waste water treatment and innovation in water analysis.

Mr Jones Mnisi, Acting Chief Operation Officer, Johannesburg Water (JW). and Prof Derek van der Merwe, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice-Principal, University of Johannersburg (UJ) at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Johannesburg Water on Friday, 16 January 2009. Photo: UJ.

Read more: Gabi Khumalo, Bua News / allAfrica.com, 16 Jan 2009 ; Johannesburg Water, 16 Jan 2009

Uganda, Kampala: pre-paid water launched in slums

The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NW&SC) has introduced a pre-paid water metering system “for the urban poor [...] to curb the increasing number of unscrupulous dealers”. Now a 20-litre jerrican of water costs about sh18 [0.9 US dollar cents] as opposed to sh100 [5 US dollar cents) and sh 200 [10 US dollar cents] in other areas. The ‘pay as you drink’ metering system is currently operational in Ndeeba, Kisenyi 1 and Kisenyi 2 slums of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The system has been tested in other parts of the world like India and South Africa.

Related news: Uganda: introducing a pre-paid water system and free sewer connections, Source Weekly, 26 Mar 2007

Source: Ronald Kalyango, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 14 Jan 2009

Zimbabwe: Worst-case cholera scenario getting worse

Zimbabwe’s worst-case cholera scenario, as predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO), is likely to be surpassed within a few weeks and there are still about two months of the rainy season left.

In December 2008 the WHO said cholera cases could balloon to 60,000 before the rainy season ended in March 2009, but Gregory Härtl, spokesman for the organisation’s Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response office in Geneva, told IRIN that as of 25 January, 53,306 cholera cases and 2,872 deaths had been recorded since the outbreak began in August 2008 [by 28 January the death cholera death toll in Zimbabwe had climbed to 3,028] .

Cholera, an easily treatable waterborne disease, thrives in poor sanitary conditions and is expected to remain a feature until Zimbabwe’s rainy season subsides.

The Herald, a state-owned daily newspaper, trumpeted in its 26 January edition that cholera was on the “retreat” in the capital, Harare. [...] However, Härtl said the conditions causing Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak remained in place. “The systemic underinvestment in water and sanitation infrastructure and the health system … These conditions will not change overnight.”

Source: IRIN, 26 Jan 2009

To make matters worse, a report by SW Radio Africa stated that the International Red Cross has warned it could be forced to suspend its cholera-relief activities in the coming weeks, because of a critical lack of funding.

The US-based International medical rights organisation, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), have labelled Zimbabwe’s health crisis a ‘crime’ that should be the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court. In a report titled ‘Health in Ruins – a man made disaster in Zimbabwe’ – PHR details the spread of the cholera epidemic and outlines the implications the collapse of the healthcare system has on victims of human rights violations. The report’s preface, which is signed by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and Richard Goldstone, a former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, reads: “These findings add to the growing evidence that Robert Mugabe and his regime may well be guilty of crimes against humanity.”

One overlooked effect of the cholera epidemic, mentioned by Dr Douglas Gwatidzo, chairman of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, earlier in December 2008, was that it was diverting attention away from Zimbabwe’s HIV/AIDS crisis which claims the lives of more than 400 adults every day. People living with HIV are also particularly vulnerable to cholera because their immune systems are weakened and they have more difficulty recovering.

Regular updates and background information on the cholera epidemic can be found on the UN OCHA Zimababwe web page.