Natembeya grilled over Ksh90M water loss in Trans-Nzoia
By Joel Masibo, January 20, 2026The Senate Committee on County Public Investments and Special Funds Sub-Committee, chaired by Senator Peris Tobiko, on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, questioned Trans-Nzoia County Governor George Natembeya and his executive team over glaring accountability gaps in the management of water services and public hospitals in the devolved unit.
On water services, the Committee examined audit findings showing that Trans-Nzoia Water and Sewerage Company produced 3,669,674 cubic metres of water during the 2024–2025 financial year at a production cost of Ksh55 per cubic metre.
Poor water management
However, according to the Committee, only 2,020,816 cubic metres were billed, leaving 1,648,858 cubic metres, or 44.9 per cent, as Non-Revenue Water (NRW). At production cost alone, the County incurred an estimated Ksh90.7 million on water that generated no revenue.
Following the glaring gaps, Senator Tobiko questioned the lack of clarity in management responses. “You cannot continue to report nearly half of your water as lost without telling this Committee how much of it is physical loss and how much is commercial loss. We want figures, percentages and the cost in shillings. Anything less is evasion,” she said.
The Committee further questioned TRANSWASCO’s explanation that over Ksh250 million in receivables and nearly Ksh200 million in payables could not be fully supported because they were inherited from a defunct utility. Senators questioned how liabilities could be recognised without documentation, only to be explained away as a transition problem.
Senator George Mbugua termed the explanation unacceptable. “Inherited figures are not a defence. If you cannot support the numbers, then you cannot ask Kenyans to believe them. This is exactly how public money disappears,” she said.
Attention then turned to health services, where the Committee questioned why the only two Level 4 hospitals in the county, Kitale County Referral Hospital and Wamalwa Kijana Teaching and Referral Hospital, are located barely two kilometres apart. Following the transfer of nearly 90 per cent of services to Wamalwa Kijana, Kitale Hospital has remained largely underutilised, with most wards, offices and examination rooms lying idle.
Idle equipment
Of particular concern was Kitale Hospital’s reference laboratory, valued at approximately Ksh500 million, which previously generated about Ksh3 million quarterly. Since the transfer of services, the laboratory has remained largely inactive, leaving expensive equipment idle.
Governor Natembeya defended the decisions, saying, “The County rationalised services to improve efficiency, and we are working to reactivate idle assets and reduce water losses.”
Senator Tobiko questioned the logic. “Efficiency cannot mean abandoning billion-shilling facilities while citizens in other parts of the county lack access. This Committee will not accept wastage dressed up as reform,” she said.