‘Lilongwe Water Board 2’ under surveillance

What many people have been complaining about as inefficiencies of the Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) might not be problems emanating from the board after all.

For a very long time, LWB customers have been complaining about getting inflated bills and some being forced to pay over five times before they can be connected to the water board system.

Even those who have had their water disconnected have been forced to pay inflated bills, but if what is coming out from the board is anything to go by, some of the bills and illegal connections have been done by unscrupulous individuals operating as Lilongwe Water Board 2.

The board loses 30 percent of its revenue annually, according to general manager Rodrick Gonani.

LWB public relations officer Trevor Phoya confirmed in an interview that there is a parallel body connecting people illegally and collecting revenue on behalf of the board leading to a huge loss in revenue.

‘Lilongwe Water Board 2’ has been illegally connecting customers in areas like Chinsapo, Ntandire and parts of Area 25.

An offshoot of the same group started issuing fake inflated bills to unsuspecting customers.

Says Phoya: “The company is close to busting the operations of a parallel institution which is collecting revenue on behalf of the company through illegal connections and issuing fake receipts and bills. This problem has been there for quite some time but we could not get to the root of it.”

He said recently a woman from Chinsapo complained that water at her house was not reconnected even after paying her bill and when water board officials went to her house they discovered that she was wrongly connected to the water board system.

“We started our investigations and we arrested the one who connected the woman and he revealed that he was just a plumber. As I am talking to you now, he is in custody,” said Phoya who could not reveal the identity of the culprit.

He said the problem of fake bills has just being discovered after some people complained of receiving inflated bills and investigations are ongoing to find out if these people issuing fake bills were working with officials inside the water board.

“What we are suspecting is that if these people were creating fake bills then they also created fake accounts and that is where we have to be thorough with the investigations to make sure that we get to the root of this problem, but I am optimistic that we are very close to bust it,” said Phoya.

Lilongwe Police spokesperson Ramsey Mushani said police will always work closely with the board to bring to book any culprit involved in illegal connections and fake issuance of bills.

“This is a big offence and we are warning all those involved in this that the law will catch up with them. Our advice to water users is to always seek proper documentation from water board officials to avoid being duped,” said Mushani.