Privatisation

The impact on ordinary Australians of privatising essential public assets and services will be examined in a People’s Inquiry launched by Public Services International; hearings will start in Newcastle on 5 September and conclude in Canberra on 27 October.

The Ugandan Minister of Education and Sports, Hon Janet Museveni, formally announced during a session of the parliament on 9 August 2016 that the Government will soon close the schools operated by the largest and most controversial chain of commercial private schools worldwide, Bridge International Academies (BIA), which runs 63 nursery and primary schools in Uganda.

Civil society, community-based groups and unionists supported by Public Services International have petitioned the House of Assembly, asking it to step on the brakes on plans by the Lagos State government to embark on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model of water privatisation.

"Water privatization, including PPPs, have failed time and time again from India to the Philippines to Nigeria, causing skyrocketing tariffs, cutoffs of families who cannot afford to pay, worker layoffs, corruption and mismanagement, quality problems, and major accountability, transparency and governance problems."

The General Secretary of Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), Mr. Kwabena Bonzie Quaye has commended the efforts of PSI in their provision of technical assistance to the union and thanked PSI for the conferences and workshops which members of their union have benefited from.

A study released today on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) raises significant concerns over the controversial funding mechanism and serves as a clear warning to leaders meeting at UNCTAD14 this week. The research paper, titled PPPs and the SDGs; don’t believe the hype, found that PPPs often contribute to decreased transparency and accountability, increased incentives for corruption and do not attract significant new capital.

Tracy Edwards, group secretary at PCS union, has written a piece for the Guardian newspaper on privatisation in British museums. Here's an extract.

Oyo state public service workers held a rally on 15 June to protest unpaid salaries and proposed privatization of some schools.