Murang’a residents and a water firm are at loggerheads over tariffs

The wrangles between the residents and Murang’a South Water and Sanitation Company (Muwasco) recently escalated and locals vandalised infrastructure belonging to the company.

Residents of Murang’a South, including Kigumo, Kandara and Maragua, said taps had run dry in their homes and other institutions such as schools and hospitals causing a major crisis.

Governor Irungu Kang’ata wrote to Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb) seeking to have the water rates lowered from Sh107 to Sh88 per cubic meter in a bid to quell the duel.

Kang’ata also wrote to the Principal Secretary for water requesting urgent transfer of Muwasco shares to the county government for better management.

Only Muwasco out of the five water service providers in Murang’a is run by the National Government.

However, some residents claimed that the wrangles are politically instigated with the aim of taking over the water firm.

The locals led by Kamau Waithera and Andrew Thuo in a presser in Thika town claimed that water issues in Murang’a County had previously been solved through public participation.

Vandalised equipment

Kamau said that some political quarters are after the revenue generated by Muwasco.

“We are perturbed by the actions of some of our leaders who are busy fuelling the wrangles instead of finding a lasting solution. We are privy to information that they are behind the destruction of the water infrastructure belonging to Muwasco, which was done at the detriment of thousands of residents,” Kamau said.

They noted with concern that sanitation in public schools and hospitals is in jeopardy as water scarcity continues to bite in the region which, ironically, supplies several counties under the Nairobi Metropolitan area including Kiambu, Kajiado, Nairobi and Machakos with clean water.

“We fear that there might be an outbreak of waterborne diseases if this crisis is not solved. We are pleading with our leaders to support the water firms in accelerating service provision to locals,” Thuo said.