Kenyan water firm under probe

Written By:Judith Akolo , Posted: Mon, Aug 23, 2010

The Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company is under probe.

This follows the launch of investigations into its activities by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) following public complaints.

The Assistant Director in charge of preventive services at the anti graft body, Prof Jane Onsongo said provision of water to city residents is an important utility service that should not be compromised.

Speaking at the launch of the examination into the operations of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company at the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) Monday, Onsongo said among the issues the anti-graft body will be investigating are irregularities in metering and billing systems, accounting, abuse of office and conflict of interest.

The other areas are irregularities in human resource management, irregularities in procurement, bribery demands, malpractices in financial management and malpractices in procurement.

"The overall objective of the preventive strategy is to promote and sustain good governance in public procurement," said Prof Onsongo.

She said the investigation that is supposed to take some 45 days to complete, will see KACC identify and profile corruption prone functional areas and define applicable mode of interventions through giving advise on how to seal them.

The Water and Irrigation Permanent Secretary Prof David Stower urged KACC to zero in on nepotism tendencies in the water company in order to deal with challenges arising from the malpractice.

He said for a company that is supposed to raise over Kshs 500 million monthly through water bills, the company is only making Kshs 300 million a month.

"It is no wonder that we have to depend on loans to increase the infrastructure requirement for this city," said Stower.

The Company's Acting Managing Director Eng. Philip Gichuki admitted that corruption is rife at the water company and noted that it was crucial for KACC to move and help the company streamline issues at the company.

And City of Nairobi, Town Clerk Philip Kisia has put on notice businessmen operating water tankers in the city.

Kisia is warning that they risk jail for endangering public safety through compromising hygiene and transportation of water, in tanks meant for other uses other than water transportation.

"It beats logic that whereas the service providers for water are trying to make life better for city residents, the water transportation companies are simply transporting the water in unhygienic tanks.

They even lack the requisite licenses to do this job." Said Kisia.

According to a study by UNEP, only 42 per cent of households in Nairobi have proper water connection and only 48 per cent of Nairobi population is served by existing water and sewerage system.