Blantyre Water Board (BWB) says faulty prepaid meters are costing it an estimated K4 billion in lost revenue every month as the utility conducts a full assessment of the problem.
BWB chief executive officer Yemeria Chihana said in an interview that more than 24 000 meters are giving inaccurate readings, with many recording only about half of the actual water consumed. Some meters are not working at all.
The meters were procured to improve efficiency, but Chihana said flawed procurement procedures have instead drained the institution’s resources. He said BWB could not terminate the contract with the supplier because no performance bond was signed. As a result, the board is stuck using the faulty meters until the contract expires in August.
“Some of these meters give inaccurate readings. They release water without correctly registering the amount that has passed through them,” Chihana said. “We have learnt a tough lesson from this costly experience.”
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development principal secretary Erica Maganga confirmed that non‑revenue water is a major problem across water boards, with BWB the worst affected at 50 percent losses.
“The high non‑revenue water is due to old infrastructure and we are going to implement several projects to reduce these losses,” she said.
Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Corporations and State Enterprises chairperson Sylvester Ayuba James said the situation points to negligence and possible corruption.
“For me, this is part of a broader problem of political interference at the institution, which then translates into corruption,” he said.
Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira described the revelations as evidence of procurement negligence and systemic corruption.
Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito said mismanagement in water boards runs deeper than many realise and called for urgent reforms in how the institutions are managed.
