A new survey shows that millions of cash has been stolen in the water and sanitation sector through corruption, leaving many people with no access to the vital resource. A vast majority have to pay bribes to get connected. Some of the money has been lost through inflated cost of water connection, dubious contracts and falsified metre readings.

This is absurd because the water sector should be the last place for corruption to thrive. This is because more than half of the country still does not have access to clean, safe water and sanitation facilities. It is a constitutional right for every Ugandan to enjoy this vital resource, yet national water coverage stands at 63 per cent. This means that clean water coverage is still a luxury to many Ugandans, especially in the rural areas and districts affected by conflict in the eastern and northern regions.

The indicators are even worse for districts like Kaboong where water coverage is less than 15 per cent. This presents a grim picture putting in mind promises made in 2000 by all countries in the world, Uganda inclusive, that its entire people would have access to clean water by 2015. With the sector bedeviled by corruption, this goal is unlikely to be achieved.

The good news though, is that the Ministry of Water and Environment unlike many other government departments, has accepted that there is a huge problem. After commissioning a survey to assess its performance and ability to deliver water to Ugandans, whose results are not anything good to write home about, the ministry has gone ahead to commit itself to stem corruption and have water delivered to all Ugandans (see special report on page 8).

Reforms sanctioned by the ministry include among others, a water and sanitation sub sector good governance action plan under which an independent regulator will be set up to monitor service delivery. The ministry has also committed itself to improve its procurement and contracts processes to ensure accountability and imposition of heavy penalties to its errant employees.

Government and civil society should support these reform processes so that Ugandans can enjoy the basic right: access to safe and clean water.