The population of Buea, South West Region of Cameroon has been sensitised on better environmental practices in order to preserve water for the community.

The community sensitisation was carried out on March 22 by the African Centre of Advocacy and its partner Clean Water and Sanitation Africa as part of activities to mark the 2023 edition of the World Water Day.

Commemorated under the theme “Accelerating Change”, teams from the African Centre of Advocacy went down to Bokwai, a community in the outskirts of Buea, South West Region for a cleanup campaign as well as sensitise the population.

The commemoration in Buea comes at a time the civil society, labour, and community activists leading the Our Water, Our Right Africa Coalition (OWORAC) have urged local, national, and regional leaders to abandon all false solutions of water privatization under any guise.

The group made it clear that governments must move away from the exploitative and failed experiment of water privatization model and mover towards public ownership and control.

They called for an acceleration of public investments in order to ensure accountability of public officials who hold an obligation to serve the interests of the masses, not the privileged few.

According Sandra Ndang, Advocacy Officer at the African Center for Advocacy, water is a fundamental human right and should be made available to everyone at all cost.

“We must direct our efforts toward the underserved, who experience difficulties in meeting their daily water demands,” she said.

She further stressed that privatizing water makes it more difficult for consumers, as quality may not be the best since the aim of most companies is to make money which is barely beneficial to the Cameroonians.

Access to potable water in Cameroon remains a problem in some regions in Cameroon, especially is most rural areas where many have resorted to alternatives such as drilling wells, sometimes in unhygienic surroundings.