Sachet water producers condemn attempt to sabotage business

SACHET water producers in the Western Region are up in arms against what they see as an attempt by the government to sabotage their business.

Their anger follows the announcement by the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing that the government was considering banning the use of pipe borne water by sachet water producers in the country.

Addressing a news conference in Takoradi on Tuesday, the Western Regional President of the Association of Sachet and Packaged Water Producers (WERASPAWAP), Major Rex Nuamah (rtd), did not mince words when he said, 'This claim is completely fallacious, the government is obliged, as a social responsibility, to provide treated, good quality and healthy standard water for the citizens.'

He added: 'People should not target sachet water producers for victimisation and witch-hunting. The sachet water industry is not the only consumer of the treated water from GWCL, industries such as the breweries, herbal medical producers, distillery, beverage and fruit drink, and producers of soft drinks are all using treated water from GWCL.'

According to the president of the association, the recurring problem confronting the water sector in the country was not about the quantity of water being used for packaging by the sachet water producers, but laxity on the part of the Ghana Water Company to treat enough water for supply to users.

'The problem is lack of planning by the water company. It is not about picking on sachet water producers,' he stressed.

Major Nuamah (rtd) stated that the sachet water producers had not done anything to attract the displeasure and anger of the government, but what they had identified, as an association, was that the water company was not living up to its billing.

'The problem is, they are not able to treat enough water to distribute; we have not done anything,' he observed.

Flanked by the other regional executives to give him morale support as he delivered their message, the president of the association described the announcement as an attempt at a cover-up for the inefficiencies in the system.

'Is it not ridiculous trying to find scapegoats,' he asked, cautioning that any attempt by the stakeholders to ignore the challenges of the water sector, and instead try to find faults where they do not exist, would rather compound the existing challenges confronting the sector.

This, he argued, was because sachet water producers were not well equipped and resourced enough to be able to treat raw water to acceptable United Nations World Health Organizations (UNWHO) standards, and so he believes it would rather introduce contamination into the finished product.

In addition to that, the retired Major argued that it would be untenable to force them to comply with such a directive, because the international trade liberalisation arrangement makes provision for other countries such as Ivory Coast and South Africa to export packaged water, to sell in some supermarkets in Ghana.

Major Nuamah advanced further the strong argument of the viability of the sector to the overall economic growth of the country, explaining: 'The Sachet water industry has become a very valuable contributor of job creation and economic sustenance in the country. Majority of people, mostly the youth (JHS-SHS leavers), who do not get opportunities to directly continue with their education, have been given the privilege to work and earn something at the end of the month,' he opined.

Beyond that, he said, the industry had encouraged and enhanced the entrepreneurial spirit in Ghanaians, whilst making frantic efforts to reach the nook and crannies of the country, where the water company and its pipes could not reach with quality, treated and clean water.