PAC Orders CWSA to Recover GH¢2.5 Million Public Water Debt Within 30 Days

ACCRA — The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has given the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) 30 days to recover GH¢2.5 million owed by public institutions for water supplied to them.

The directive follows concerns over the agency’s slow recovery of outstanding debts, with CWSA telling the Committee on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, that customers owed a total of GH¢15.35 million accumulated over roughly nine years.

So far, the agency has recovered only GH¢1.16 million, prompting the Committee to demand a more aggressive recovery effort.

PAC demands action

PAC Chairperson Abena Osei Asare described the 30-day directive as non-negotiable and instructed CWSA to pursue the identified institutional debtors.

Figures presented to the Committee showed that public institutions account for a significant portion of the outstanding debt.

They include:

• 72 Ghana Police Service institutions: GH¢235,898
• 60 hospitals: GH¢472,970.29
• 56 senior high schools: GH¢978,280.25
• 47 other schools: approximately GH¢186,000

Additional amounts are owed by government agencies and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

CWSA explains why debts have accumulated

CWSA officials told the Committee that the agency had introduced several measures to improve revenue collection.

These include issuing demand notices, conducting revenue mobilisation exercises, installing prepaid meters and introducing electronic payment systems.

However, officials said some of the outstanding debt had been inherited from community-managed water systems and had accumulated over several years.

They also acknowledged that some of the inherited debts had not yet been validated.

Committee questions unvalidated debt

The explanation did not satisfy the Committee, which questioned why unvalidated debts had been presented to the Auditor-General for audit.

PAC members also raised concerns about the length of time the debts had been allowed to accumulate despite measures introduced by CWSA to improve collections.

The Committee directed the sector Minister to use her office to pursue outstanding payments from larger public institutions.

GH¢15 million debt under scrutiny

The Committee made clear that it expects substantial progress before the next audit cycle.

PAC said the GH¢15 million outstanding debt should not appear in the 2026 audit report, putting pressure on CWSA to demonstrate significant improvement in recovering money owed for water services.

The 30-day deadline now gives the agency a clear target: recover at least GH¢2.5 million from the identified public institutions and show the Committee that its revenue collection systems are delivering results.

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