Jospong Official Urges Government-Private Partnership on Water Pollution

A senior official of the Jospong Group of Companies has urged government to partner the private sector in raising the money, technology and skills needed to deal with water pollution and strengthen water security in Ghana.

Dr Glenn Gyimah, General Manager of the group's Green Transition Office, made the call on the sidelines of COP31 in Turkey, as first reported by Citi News. He singled out pollution from illegal small-scale mining, known locally as galamsey, as a major concern.

According to Dr Gyimah, talks on water security achieve little unless someone takes charge of bringing all the relevant parties together and setting out who is responsible for what. Without such coordination, he suggested, these discussions end up being more like a mirage.

He said Jospong had set up a cluster dedicated to improving water access and quality, and wanted government to join the effort to raise the required resources.

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"All we are asking for is government to now come to the table," he said, adding that the aim was to attract partners able to provide finance, technology and expertise.

Dr Gyimah said galamsey had badly damaged the quality of water bodies, with effects reaching beyond safe drinking water to farming.

"It's not only affecting the quality of our water, but it's even affecting the kind of produce that comes out of the grounds," he said.

He also claimed that some Ghanaian farm produce was facing problems on the European Union market because of lead and other harmful materials, which he linked to poor water quality.

"Most of our produce of late doesn't pass the EU market because they have identified that, because of the quality of our water, there is some level of lead and hard kind of materials in it," he said.

Dr Gyimah stressed that action was urgent, warning that delays in securing access to high-quality water could have broader consequences for the country, and that acting sooner would benefit everyone.

Also speaking, James Varghese Abraham, chief executive of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), said developing nations should pursue climate action together with economic growth, rather than give up economic opportunities to meet climate targets.

He said oil-producing countries such as Ghana should use their oil revenues to build prosperity and pay for climate solutions, an approach he believes can help developing countries balance energy security, growth and their climate commitments.

Mr Abraham also called for more climate finance for developing countries, noting that funding which has been promised is not yet flowing at the scale required.