Minister corners Dawasa for water shortage
DAR ES SALAAM: A FOUR-DAY operation on causes of water woes in Dar es Salaam by the Minister for Water, Jumaa Aweso, has uncovered various shortfalls to address.
According to the Minister, the Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Authority’s (DAWASA) executives’ laxity and irresponsibility were the root causes of the shortfall.
In response, the minister took various measures including suspending three executives from the authority including Acting Chief Executive Office, Mr Kiula Kingu, Director of Production and Distribution Shaban Mkwanywe and DAWASA Manager at Kinyerezi Burton Mwalupaso.
The development comes after the minister paid a promt visit to the areas Their suspension was the result of a report that the minister received on Sunday from the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mwajuma Waziri, following a two-day inspection visit to the Upper and Lower Ruvu Water Treatment Plant. During her visit in the Upper Ruvu that is supposed to produce 180 million litres of water per day, she found out that some pumps are not working and leakages were leading to the water loss.
“It appears that several water chambers are leaking, which indicates that there is no oversight in these areas. Urban water supplies have also been impacted by this poor management,” PS told the minister.
She also told the minister that there are also illicit connections, especially in some cases, where some people were using authority pipelines to irrigate their crops.
According to her, the authority currently produces 320 million litres per day due to poor control of water loss, instead of actual capacity of 590 million litres per day, and this results in a deficit of 270 litres.
PS’ report triggered the minister of the docket Mr Aweso to stop the meeting and paid an impromptu visit to the water reserve tanks in various areas in the region to observe physically the current status of water including Tegete A, Mshikamo, the University of Dar es Salam tank and Luguruni.
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However, during his visit, the minister found that several tanks were entirely empty while other pipelines had leaks, but no one seemed to be concerned.
The minister suspended the Acting CEO Mr Kingu and Eng Mkwanywe, pending an investigation.
He demanded Mr Kingu and Eng Mkanywe to explain why there is no water in the reservoirs, despite the availability of water at the sources and adequate power supply in the region.
He said that during the suspension period of DAWASA boss, the authority will be under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Water.
Minister Aweso vowed to continue working with people who are ready to work, while stressing that he will not hesitate to take swift measures as a result of the negligence of any executive(s).
He also directed the management team to liaise with their subordinates and to ensure they uphold good relationships and increase efficiency.
