From Private Sector Participation to Full Public Ownership: Why the Urban Water Management Contract in Ghana was Discontinued

Until 2006 urban water supply in Ghana was a task for the public sector. How-ever, at that time there was also consensus amongst key decision makers in the Government of Ghana as well as in the World Bank that the performance of the Ghana Water Company Limited was below standard. In line with the then dominant thinking in the World Bank, a form of privatization was viewed as the best way forward, eventually a management contract form of privatisation was adopted. Surprisingly, the Ghana Water Company Limited – seen in this paper as the main ‘principal’ was elevated to the status of a supervisor of the contract, whilst Aqua Vitens Rand Limited became the implementing contractor or ‘’the agent’. In spite of high expectations, the management contract was discontinued in 2011 as the expected results were not achieved. Applying the interactive policy process perspective as well as that of privatization and related concepts, this paper examines why poor results were achieved with the management contract for urban water supply, implemented between 2006 and 2011 and why there was a reversion back to public management. It also pays attention to a policy process that, right from the formulation stage, placed more emphasis on ‘right’ polices and ‘institutions’, but entailed less attention to complexities as regards relations within and between organisations and the stakeholders involved.