Garissa Water and Sewerage Company on the spot over increased water tariffs

The Garissa Water and Sewerage Company has come under sharp criticism for unilaterally increasing water tariffs without public participation.

The fixed charges for those without meters were increased from Sh1,700 to Sh3,000 with Garissa township residents now grappling with acute water shortage.

The water deficiency in the town has forced residents to buy the commodity from water bowsers at an exorbitant price taking advantage of the water firm’s inability to provide clean and affordable water.

“We have now given up on getting water on our taps and resort to only means which is buying water and to make matters worse Garissa Water and Sewerage Company (Gawasco) has almost doubled the price,” said an elder Mohamed Abdi in Garissa Town on Tuesday.

It's not surprising to see women and young girls in dark alleys within Garissa town with 20-litre jerrycans looking for water, a matter that has angered local leadership.

Recently, local members of parliament clashed with Governor Nathif Jama after they sought to know why there is a lack of water in Garissa town despite huge allocations.

The matter has also ended up at the Garissa County Assembly with ward representatives accusing the Chief Executive Officer of unilaterally increasing charges without stakeholders involved.

“I raised this matter in the assembly but am yet to get satisfactory answers from the department,” Baraki ward representative Hassan Geley told the Eastleigh Voice.

Pending issues

The assembly’s water committee chairperson Amran Mohamed also confirmed that they had met with officials but there are still pending issues.

“Yes, it's true'. We deliberated on this matter, and they told us that there was policy in place that they are currently implementing but we have more questions for them,” she said.

Amran said the committee has been following the matter but they were disrupted by the El Nino rains adding that the assembly is looking at why the policy to increase water charges took that long to be implemented.

However, Garissa Water and Sewerage Company’s Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Mohamud Dolal said there were no changes made as the Sh1,700 were only for 21 units.

He said those without meters were using more than up to 50 units hence the firm is encouraging residents to have meters so that they are billed according to their water usage.

“Because of the huge water consumption people want to pay less amount without using the meter.  the water tariffs currently being used date back to 2007, we are hoping to change by February,” he said.

On water shortage, the Gawasco boss denied there are water shortages within the town noting that there are particular areas that are on water rationing.

“Our water provision is currently at 68 per cent. There are few areas where we do ration after four days,” he said.

He said there were water shortages during the heavy rains which he explained was occasioned by huge turbidity that limited supply of water in the town.