On April 15th, 2015, at approximately 10:30 in the morning, at the 7th World Water Forum in Daegu, South Korea, I, along with two other students, had the opportunity to interview Mr. Ismail Fahmy, Chief Executive Officer of the Water Services Trust Fund, of Nairobi, Kenya. We gained insight into his role within the water governance of the country, and his goals for reform during his tenure.
Under the Water Act of 2002, The authority of his position entitles him to secure financing for the water supply of the country. There are 47 counties in country, and 47 water service providers. Although the Water Service Boards are designated to be an interface between the water service providers and the customers, he sees little use for their existence, and in fact, when the 2014 Water Act passes, the Water Service Boards will not have a place in the water distribution structure of the country. They will not be financed because they are not good at accounting for their money and they are not held accountable.
He communicated that unfortunately, Kenya will not meet the 2015 Millennial Development Goal Number 7, Target 10a, of reducing by half the percentage of its population without access to safe drinking water. The rural population suffers the greatest disparity of population without access to safe drinking water. Instead, the country has implemented Kenya Vision 2030, with more ambitious goals of revitalizing the water sector, within a longer time frame.
One project underway under Kenya Vision 2030 was the subsidizing of $25,000 to provide toilets to as many households as possible. This project is in conjunction with Surasana Toilet. They aim to construct a septic system for every ten households. The Water Service Providers can then charge a fee every month. This project falls under the Ministry of Health. He is trying to bridge the gaps between this Ministry and the Ministry of Water.
He discussed that one of the difficulties of his job was how to divide up money he does receive for water infrastructure projects. His country's mandate is that infrastructure money should go to the under-represented. However, there are protocol that must be followed, so it is not as simple as that. He received US $17 Million dollars to provide toilets to each of the 47 counties. He told every county to apply for 300 toilets. However, some counties showed no interest. Some counties made a good argument for why they should receive the money. The counties with the good marketing skills will get more of the money.
He is trying to institute reforms in his sector by making the Water Service Providers accountable for the money they receive. He says that this is the difference between him and his successors. He expects the 47 counties to create a business model for the implementation and upkeep of their water projects. He is asking all 47 Water Service Providers to go back three years - if their investments are not working, they will not get more money.
His next goals for his position are the sustainable raising of funds for his governance. He does not want to have to go to the Government of Kenya for money for his projects. He wants to create an endowment, a revolving hybrid fund to finance the water sector. He is working with corporate entities, such as CocaCola, to finance projects. However, CocaCola may leave the country, as they believe that available water sources in the country are diminishing (however, they are not diminishing. Kenya has enough water in the country to meet its needs: what the country lacks is infrastructure, accountability and technology to access and manage that water. CocaCola could help with that. Please refer to my thesis for more information).
His goals for attending the World Water Forum were to establish a network with other corporations and countries. He worked for USAID for ten years for their national staff in East Africa. He is also attending the World Water Week Conference in Sweden to grow his network.
The message that he wanted to give to the international community was to work with the government of Kenya. They have the political infrastructure to manage their projects. He needs investment and collaboration. The United States is currently not providing any money for water funding in his country. He tells countries that if they want to have an impact in Kenya, to put their money down in investing in its water infrastructure.
He is encouraging students to do their research in Kenya, such as in their sanitation projects. He wants students to secure funding for water research in his country and to be his advocate.
No comments:
Post a Comment