WaterAid Ghana, an international non-governmental organisation, has called for a shift from donor-dependent financing to increased domestic investment in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to ensure sustainable access to essential services.

The organisation said about 90 per cent of WASH infrastructure projects in Ghana were donor-funded, describing the situation as unsustainable.

The call was made at the Ghana Water Sector Overview Editors’ Roundtable held in Accra yesterday, organised by WaterAid Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Water Journalists Network.

The WASH Monitoring and Financing Senior Adviser at WaterAid UK, Mr Murtala Abdul Mumin, said Ghana needed to rethink how it financed the sector and move beyond infrastructure construction to financing systems capable of sustaining services.

He advocated the establishment of a National Sanitation Authority to provide stronger leadership for sanitation, saying the sector required an institution with the mandate to prioritise sanitation, set standards and ensure effective service delivery.

“Sanitation sits under the Ministry of Local Government, but the Ministry is not an implementing agency. We need an institution that will lead the sanitation agenda and make sanitation a day-to-day priority,” he said.

Mr Mumin also called for the establishment of a Sanitation Fund to support the sector, noting that Ghana already collected a sanitation and pollution levy through fuel-related charges.

He urged the media to investigate how much revenue had accrued from the levy and how effectively it was being used.

“People pay for this fund, so they must know how much has been collected and to what extent they are benefiting from it,” he said.

On private sector participation, Mr Mumin proposed the use of blended finance, combining public resources, taxes and concessionary loans to reduce investment risks and make the WASH sector more attractive to private investors.

He said Ghana could explore models similar to independent power producers in the energy sector to encourage private investment in water services