The Management of the Guma Valley Water Company in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources on Tuesday 19th July 2022 briefed members of the Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources about the new Guma Valley Water Company Bill 2022 which seeks to repeal and replace the Guma Valley Water Company Act of 2017.
The Guma Valley Water Company Bill 2022 seeks to provide for the transfer of authority and control of Guma Valley Water Company from the National Commission for Privatization to the Ministry of Water Resources.
Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources Hon. Lahai Marrah said the Bill is aiming to bring all the water sector players in the country under the umbrella of the Ministry of Water Resources for a better-coordinated approach.
Hon. Lahai Marrah lauded Guma for maintaining a very cordial relationship with the Committee and thanked the Management for thinking it fit to first brief them about the Guma Bill 2022 before it will be tabled before the House of Parliament.
“The Committee is proud that Guma is introducing a Bill from the Water Sector, I want members to be equipped with its content so that we will own and champion it when it comes to Parliament”, Chairman Marrah added.
The Managing Director Guma Valley Water Company, Ing. Maada S. Kpenge stated that the Ministry of Water Resources and Guma have been working on the Bill and thanked personnel at the Law Officers Department for the tremendous effort they put into drafting the Bill.
Ing. Kpenge reminded the Committee that Guma was one of the State-Owned Enterprises listed under the Second Schedule of the National Commission for Privatization Act 2002 for divestiture as Government was trying to bring in private investments to build water supply infrastructure to meet the growing demand for water in Freetown.
Ing. Kpenge disclosed that coordination and collaboration between the National Commission for Privatization (NCP) which had oversight control over Guma and the Ministry of Water Resources which had policy control was at most times not cordial, and this situation led President Bio to declare in 2020 that supervision of Guma should be transferred from NCP to the Ministry of Water Resources and in March 2021 a Cabinet Paper was approved to set in motion the necessary changes to the Guma Valley Water Company Act 2017.
Making their contributions, members of the Committee advised that Part 8 of the Bill which deals with Offences needs to be very robust to empower Guma to effectively deal with the ever-growing threats of deforestation, encroachments and tampering with its facilities.
The Guma Valley Water Company Bill 2022 is divided into 9 parts, with 63 Sections and 3 Schedules; and for the most part similar in content to the Guma Valley Water Company Act 2017, except for a few Sections:
• Transfer of control of GVWC from NCP to MWR; •
…to provide for the transfer of authority and control over Guma Valley Water Company from the National Commission for Privatization to the Ministry of Water Resources
