Senators accuse Sakaja of stinking pilferage
By Alvin Mwangi, July 23, 2025A Senate committee has put on the spot the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited for mismanaging the water utility firm that has left it reeling with a Ksh5 billion debt.
The lawmakers’ verdict follows a damning report by the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, which laid bare how the water firm is also losing at least Ksh8.57 billion in water produced but not billed to customers.
Declaring the company as technically insolvent, Gathungu, in her latest report for the year ending June 30, 2024, said Kenya’s capital water firm is on the brink of collapse.
The report observes that the firm is technically insolvent with the negative working capital increasing every year from Ksh2.78 billion in the financial year ending June 30, 2023, to Ksh3.49 billion during the period under review.
Liabilities
It says that Nairobi Water has liabilities of Ksh6 billion against assets worth Ksh4.3 billion.
“The company is technically insolvent and may not be able to meet its current obligations as and when they fall due,” reads part of the report.
Appearing before the Senate County Public Investment and Special Funds Committee, chaired by Vihiga lawmaker Godfrey Osotsi, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja was at pains to explain the identified mismanagement at the water firm.
The Senators heard how NCWSC spends more than Ksh3.26 billion in unnecessary staff costs as it grapples with a bloated staff.
Working capital
The audit report further showed that the utility firm had a negative working capital of over Ksh3.4 billion, with liabilities outstripping assets.
According to the report, the water firm produced 185.8million cubic meters of water but only billed 90.3million cubic meters.
The other 95.4 million cubic meters accounted for non-revenue water – water produced but not billed – with the firm losing a staggering Ksh8.57 billion during the period under review.
The water loss is more than 78 per cent of the company’s operating revenue during the fiscal year under review, which was Ksh10.94 billion.
In addition, the staff estimated bills due to some 15,320 customers, instead of getting actual readings, for six months, a move that shows laxity at the city’s water company.
Further, some 23,384 accounts were billed Ksh344.4 million but did not pay the amounts and still continued receiving the scarce commodity.
As if that was not enough, some 10,192 active accounts did not receive any bill during the entire year but still remained active, with the auditor questioning how that was possible.