Tanzania: Minister – Stop Illegal Connections

Mwanza — DEPUTY Minister for Water Dr Binilith Mahenge has ordered dismissal of any employee of the Mwanza Urban Water and Sewerage Authority (MWAUWASA) if found engaged in illegal connections of water to customers and thus denying revenues to the authority.

Dr Mahenge issued the order at a meeting with MWAUWASA workers during his working visit here.

“An employee who colludes with customers to cheat the authority should be fired right away and not moved to another department as he/she will make us to lose revenues,” he stressed, likening the misconduct to treason.

The deputy minister also urged employees charged with reading water metres to be sharp-eyed in the interest of the authority, urging them to cooperate with their Board so that they can boost their revenue and shun dependence on subsidies from the central government.

He also expressed concerns on loss of produced water by the authority which he said was due to illegal connections to customers. “The only way to curb loss of water is by taking stern actions on employees who connect water to customers illegally,” he directed.

Non-revenue water in the region stands at 40 per cent, according to statistics by MWAUWASA, which the deputy minister said was so huge compared to the international allowable loss of 20 per cent. MWAUWASA workers pledged to work hard and improve production in order to make the authority to operate profitably.