By Amin Kef Sesay
The Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit (MCCU) and Adam Smith International (ASI), on Tuesday 15th December, 2020, held a one-day workshop at the Atlantic Hotel at Lumley Beach Road, Aberdeen, to mark the end of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold – Guma Institutional Strengthening and District Metering Area (DMA) and Kiosk Demonstration Program.
In his welcome statement, the Managing Director of Guma Valley Water Company, Maada Kpenge, said when the MCC Threshold program started some 38 months ago, the question on the mind of every staff of Guma was; “why would the program invest so much on strengthening the institution rather than on the infrastructure?”
Mr. Maada Kpenge added that it is only now that Guma is realising that the program was a good one and it has delivered for Guma Valley and the Urban Water Supply, deliverables that has not been achieved with other previous interventions in Guma.
“It is one of the best interventions that Guma has had, it has mapped the road to universal access to water supply and also how Guma can create a sustainable water supply system for Freetown”.
The Guma Managing Director thanked the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit (MCCU) and Consultants – SMEC, COBA/CONCEPT, ASI and others who worked tirelessly on the program to make it a success.
He added that the essence of the workshop was to discuss what was achieved during the implementation of the program, and more importantly, how can Guma take these achievements forward and work on the lessons learnt.
Speaking at the workshop, the Country Manager of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Matt Langhenry, said the workshop is the culmination of a lot of hard work by the various consultations MCCU and Guma have put together over the past few years during the implementation of the Threshold program.
“Today we bring together what the Threshold program has done; and one tangible outcome is Guma’s performance. When we did the Result Based Financing (RBF) program, Guma was able to meet all of its targets – scoring 120% and was therefore eligible to receive a reward of $ 1.1 million dollars for its effort”.
Mr. Langhenry said he was very proud of the Threshold program, as it has made Guma to be more responsive to its customers. He thanked the Minister of Water Resources, Philip K. Lansana, for his strategic leadership given to the program.
The MCC Country Manager showered praise on the Managing Director of Guma and his team for pushing the Threshold Water Sector program and the Result Based Financing activity to be successful; “he knows water, he knows management, he knows how to put an organisation together and motivate them. Every dime that was earned during the RBF program was due to the leadership of Maada Kpenge. What he has done with Guma is incredible, and to me, that was a testament that came out of the program, and the work we all put together”.
Mr. Langhenry thanked ASI for working side by side with Guma, both indoors and outdoors, and also for working closely with the Aberdeen and Kingtom communities to get their buy-in for the DMA program.
Speaking via virtual link to the workshop, the Chief Executive Officer of MCCU, Ndeye Koroma, said that the partnership with Guma to successfully implement the Institutional Strengthening activity under the Threshold program is something everyone should be proud of.
“We have been able to improve the financial viability and operational efficiency of Guma Valley; we have also been able to successfully implement the RBF activity with Guma that has seen it perform above the target set for it. This is not something the MCCU did, this was an achievement by Guma itself through the support provided by ASI, because Guma has a good leadership in place”.
Madam Koroma added that the MCCU is collaborating with Guma to implement the DMA and Kiosk Pilot Demonstration activity in Aberdeen and Kingtom and that sustainable interventions are being put in place to solve the medium-term water supply issues in Greater Freetown.
The MCC CEO said Guma has demonstrated at every juncture that they are committed and want to ensure that they can provide the best services to the citizens of Freetown; “MCCU is supporting that process and MCC is funding that process. ASI has provided technical support, and at the end of the day; we can all sit in a room and reflect on the work that has been done and feel as though we have at least moved Guma in a positive direction that is sustainable with good foundation that can be built upon in the future”.
Speaking on behalf of the Board of Guma, Director Peter Amara thanked the MCC and MCCU for their timely support to Guma and assured the workshop that the Board of Directors are working assiduously to provide strategic oversight to Guma’s management for improved water supply services in the Western Area.
In his keynote address, the Minister of Water Resources, Philip K. Lansana, said the Government of Sierra Leone effort in dealing with water issues has been enhanced with the advent of the Threshold program, leading to improvement in the water supply system in Freetown.
The Minister added that Government has been making every effort to meet Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals; he said this is reflected in some of the development projects that Government has undertaken.
“As I speak to you, we have a number of projects that Government is funding; we have the 6 Towns project, the Bonthe project, and also we have counterpart funding from Government to support projects like the Aquatic and the Freetown Emergency Recovery Project, both of which are implemented by Guma.
Minister Lansana said the MCC and MCCU interventions are key to the strides made so far in the water sector, “we are very grateful to the Government of the United States of America and the MCC for providing the funds and also to the MCCU for managing the projects”.
Under the Threshold program, water regulations and the Urban WASH Roadmap have been developed and are being implemented, the program has also supported the establishment of the National Water Resources Management Agency, the Minister added.
The Country’s Water Resources Chief also thanked the MCC for supporting the conditions assessments of the Guma Valley existing system; “for us to get it right, we need to know what we have, what is wrong with it and we need to know how to go about to fix it. They (MCC) have laid the foundation which we will base our development on, because when you understand the issues with data and evidence; you will be able to move ahead”.
The Minister praised Guma for performing beyond expectation during the program, especially under the RBF activity; “it gives me comfort to know that all Guma needs is support, when you support Guma, you shall see results”.
Hon. Lansana concluded his keynote statement saying he is looking beyond the Threshold program to the MCC Compact and a much more improved water supply situation in the Western Area.
During the workshop, presentations were done on the Institutional Strengthening interventions – Human Resources, Finance, Commercial, Technical Services, Corporate Services and the Company Financial Sustainability and Investment Plan by key staff of Guma.
Making his presentation, the Team Lead of ASI, Ken Wright, said his organization was tasked under the Threshold program to deliver on 3 key deliverables – WASH Sector Reform, Guma Institutional Capacity and DMA and Kiosk Pilot.
Mr. Wright said Guma is being held back by low investments and at the same time has lowest water tariff in the whole of Africa.
He added that ASI has been working for a tariff review for the past 3 years and that that effort will continue beyond the Threshold program to better positioned Guma financially.
In his presentation, Francis Lahai said the Threshold program has positioned Guma to become a data driven company. He informed the workshop that the company is working to improve access to low income communities through its ProPoor Unit and advised the public to desist from cutting pipes, as this leads to huge loss of treated and clean water.
The Guma Deputy Managing Director added that the company is currently installing meters in the Aberdeen and Kingtom communities and that this exercise will be rolled out in other communities across Freetown in due course.
Key recommendations from the workshop includes maintaining the company’s receptive capacity, building a strong Management Information System, reducing technical and commercial water losses and catchment protection to save the water bodies from drying up.
The $ 44.4 million Threshold Program was a partnership between the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Sierra Leone. One focus of the program was to more effectively deliver water and electricity services, with a focus on the greater Freetown area. Another focus area of the program was to support reforms increasing transparency and accountability in the delivery of these services to limit opportunities for corruption.
