In Brief
Water is not just a resource; it is life. Yet across Africa, debt-financed energy projects continue to divert ownership and governance of water away from communities and into the hands of external investors. Governments, under pressure from international lenders, sign agreements that prioritize large-scale hydropower and export-driven agribusiness, leaving rural populations with limited access to safe drinking water and sustainable irrigation. Across Africa, the privatization of water utilities, which was once aggressively pushed through Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), has re-emerged under the guise of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), placing critical infrastructure under corporate control while increasing national debt burdens.
In Ghana for instance, the Bui Dam, financed through a $622 million loan from China’s Exim Bank, displaced over 1,200 households, undermining traditional livelihoods and restricting access to fisheries that once sustained local economies. Yet, Bui has done little to solve the country’s energy crisis. In Nigeria’s Niger Delta, decades of oil extraction backed by international lenders have turned freshwater sources into toxic pools, with over 13 million barrels of oil spilled since 1958, contaminating drinking water and forcing communities to buy what was once freely available. The evidence show that this path does not create sustainable energy security. It often deepen economic dependence, ecological destruction and inequality across Africa.
A just energy transition must break from the extractivist models of the past. Governments must reject predatory financing arrangements that mortgage water resources for industrial expansion while trapping countries in cycles of debt. Africa’s energy future must be built on decentralized, community-owned renewables that safeguard local water sovereignty rather than drain it. The successful grassroots resistance against Kenya’s Lamu coal project, which led to its cancellation, demonstrates that communities can challenge exploitative financial deals and protect vital ecosystems (Save Lamu).
But resistance alone is not enough. Water cannot be collateral for foreign investment. It is a fundamental right, and securing it must be at the heart of Africa’s development agenda. National governments and regional institutions like the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS must push for legally binding policies that prevent water privatization and strengthen protections for local resource governance. The real question is whether political leaders will stand with their people, or with the financiers who profit from their dispossession?
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