By Iminza Keboge
Published April 28, 2014
Experts on water management from sub-Saharan Africa are set to attend a two-day conference in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, April 29-30, 2014.
This Water Integrity Summit that comes at a time when it is estimated that 25% of all water investment is lost to corruption every year, is expected to give experts from southern, eastern and western Africa the chance to share know-how, experiences, successful tools and challenges when implementing water integrity action plans.
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Billed as the First African Water Integrity Summit, the gathering, whose theme is Accelerating towards a Water Secure World, shall be held with the aim of helping encourage and stimulate dialogue on how corruption can be addressed in the water sector at a regional and national level.
Falsified metre readings, distorted site selection of boreholes or abstraction points for irrigation, collusion and favouritism in public procurement, and nepotism in the allocation of public offices are identified by Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) as examples of corruption in the water sector.
“The Summit is the culmination of a three year sub-Saharan capacity building programme on water integrity that successfully has trained more than 400 stakeholders across 36 countries,” a statement fom SIWI says. “The programme, as well as the Summit, is implemented by UNDP-Water Governance Facility, The Water Integrity Network, UNDP/Cap-Net, WaterNet and SIWI.”
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