A
statement released by the Ecumenical Water Network and partners has linked lack of access to water and sanitation to poverty and failure to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals.
"We are
deeply concerned that in spite of all the promises made in the context of the Millennium development Goals, in rural Africa, 65% of the population still lack access to an adequate supply of water, and
73% lack access to adequate sanitation," said the statement.
The lack of adequate water and sanitation for more than half of Africa's population raises serious questions regarding the
commitment of governments and other institutions to fulfil the right to water. The poor and the excluded are those that are worst hit.
Lack of political will
In response to the
plight of the poor, the conference called upon governments to prioritise the issue of water and sanitation in their national budgets and also their policies. This affirms what the United Nations
Development Programme said in its 2006 Human Development Report; that lack of political will is the main reason for inadequate supply of water and provision of sanitation.
Water provision
has been severely affected by challenges such as climate change, commercialisation, lack of appropriate technologies and environmental degradation among others.
The conference was closed
by His Eminence Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga, the Chairperson of the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC).
