There is a pattern that repeats itself across Africa’s water and sanitation sector. Ministers of Water present compelling, evidence-based cases for investment. The needs are clear, the technical arguments sound. Yet when these proposals reach cabinets, budget committees of parliament and Ministries of Finance, progress often stalls. This is not because the case is weak, but because it is framed in terms that do not align with fiscal priorities and economic decision-making.
This disconnect, between sector ambition and national budgeting, planning and decision making, is, in my view, the single most significant barrier to scaling water and sanitation investment in Africa. It is the conversation we intend to have in Kigali from 17 – 21 August 2026, during the High-Level Ministerial Dialogues of the Africa Water and Sanitation Systems Leadership Symposium.
I write this as someone who has spent nearly two decades working at the interface of governance, institutional strengthening, and water service delivery in Uganda. My experience has convinced me that the next frontier for Africa’s water sector is not another sector strategy.
It is a fundamentally different kind of political and economic conversation, one that reframes water and sanitation not as a standalone social sector, but as a core driver of economic growth, fiscal stability, and human capital development, requiring joint ownership, shared accountability, and coordinated decision-making across government and all key stakeholders.
Uganda offers a revealing case study. The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) is widely recognised as one of Africa’s most successful utility transformations. It has reduced non-revenue water from 60% in the late 1990s to about 34% today, expanded services to 282 towns across 96 of 145 districts, and built a commercially oriented model that has attracted financing from partners such as KfW, the European Investment Bank, and the French Development Agency.
But this success story is only part of the picture.
The broader sector remains fragmented across multiple ministries, each operating with different mandates, planning cycles, and fiscal frameworks. Policy leadership sits with the Ministry of Water and Environment. Sanitation responsibilities are shared with the Ministry of Health. Local governments oversee service delivery. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development determines budget ceilings and investment space.
In practice, no single institution holds both the full picture and the authority to drive a coherent national investment agenda.
Uganda’s sector has improved coordination, from sectors to programmes, aligned to the National Development Plans, but coordination alone does not equal joint ownership. When budgets are set, water competes with all other sectors within tight fiscal constraints. The determining factor becomes whether the programme can articulate its case in terms of economic returns, fiscal sustainability, and national development priorities.
This is not unique to Uganda. It is a continental reality.
The Africa Water Vision 2063 rightly calls for improved investment in water infrastructure. But vision alone does not unlock financing. Institutional credibility does.
Credibility is what assures governments, financiers, and citizens that resources will be used efficiently, transparently, and predictably.
NWSC’s experience demonstrates this clearly. Its improved performance achieved largely through operational efficiency, expanded connections, and better revenue systems rather than major tariff increases, enabled it to access concessional financing for Kampala’s network expansion. In other words, credibility came first; investment followed.
However, for rural and small-town systems serving most of Uganda’s population, this credibility gap remains significant. Closing it requires engagement far beyond the water ministry. It demands alignment with finance, planning, and broader governance systems.
The discussions will focus on four interdependent pillars aligned with the Africa Water Vision 2063. That is: Leadership, Professionalisation, Regulation and accountability and Strategic public finance.
Together, these pillars define the conditions under which water and sanitation systems become investable. None of them works in isolation. Utilities cannot professionalise without supportive regulation. Financing cannot scale if water is treated solely as a social cost rather than an economic investment. And reforms cannot succeed without political leadership that prioritises execution, not just policy intent.
Each dialogue will produce decision-ready outputs, including priority reforms achievable within 6–18 months and recommendations for the Kigali Declaration on Systems Transformation.
The Declaration will: position institutional credibility as the pathway to universal access, commit governments to execution discipline alongside policy reform, mandate structured coordination between finance, water, and planning ministries and call on financiers to align instruments with national reform trajectories.
These outcomes will feed into the 14th AMCOW Executive Committee meeting in October 2026 and the African Union’s annual reporting on water sector commitments.
Let me be direct. For too long, the water and sanitation sector in Africa has largely spoken to itself! We have convened technical discussions among sector professionals, produced strong strategies, and called for increased funding. Yet these efforts have often remained disconnected from the fiscal realities and political incentives that ultimately determine resource allocation.
The Kigali dialogues are designed to change that. They will reconnect the sector with Heads of State, who provide political direction, Ministries of Finance, which control fiscal space and debt decisions, Ministries of Planning, which shape national priorities and development finance institutions, which mobilise capital and manage risk.
The dialogues will confirm that institutional credibility cannot be built in isolation. It must be co-owned across these actors.
If you are a minister navigating and balancing the tension between sector ambitions and fiscal constraints, a policymaker translating political commitments into budget allocations, a development finance professional deciding where to allocate funds. Or a practitioner who understands that the real barriers are not technical but political and institutional, this conversation is for you.
In Kigali, we will not have another conversation about why water matters. The focus will be on how to make water and sanitation systems credible enough to attract investment, and accountable enough to deliver results.
I hope you will join us.
The Africa Water and Sanitation Systems Leadership Symposium will take place from 17–21 August 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda, convened by AMCOW and hosted by the Government of Rwanda. For more information, visit www.africawatersystems.org