Letter to Blantyre Water Board 

Our leader of delegation, Abiti Genuine Prof. Dr Joyce Befu, MG 66, MEGA-1, has directed us to write to you, Sir/Madam Chief Executive Officer of the Blantyre Water Board before we implement our street march to your office.

Sir/Madam, we members of the Bottom Up expedition have travelled East to West, North to South, and up and down Malawi. One improvement we really appreciate is that clean potable water is now available to more people than was the case before 1994.  We are not there yet but our country is making the right efforts towards attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 6 which aims at ensuring worldwide access to water and sanitation for all by 2030.  The Malawi Vision 2063 is also very serious about this goal. So is the Africa 2063 agenda.

This goal has several implications on national water and sanitation policies.  For people to have access to potable water and proper sanitation, there must be facilities. The entire country must be piped to deliver water for drinking, washing, and cleaning homes. Cleaning includes flushing toilets and mopping floors.   Flush toilets and sewage systems need to be installed across the country to ensure dirty water does not pollute ground water.

Thus, to achieve full access to water and sanitation, a lot of water is needed. Where water is sold, full access to water and sanitation implies paying highly. But in a country where  almost everybody is poor, there is need for controlled water usage at home. 

Sir/Madam, your colleagues at the Northern Water Board, the Lilongwe Water Board and the Central Region Water Board have realized the importance of assisting people to control usage of water at home. They are providing water and charging it through prepaid metering.  People pay in advance for the water they will use. The more they use the more they pay and vice versa.

The people at Kawiruwiru House and Madzi House are not complaining about loss of income but their customers are paying using prepaid meters.  You are using old postpaid meters in most homes and you are complaining about loss of income. Have you ever sat down to find out why you not making enough money using postpaid meters?  Consult your colleagues at Kawiruwiru and Madzi House for a free course in making money using prepaid meters.

Water consumers in the North and the Centre are satisfied with the service they get. The prepaid metering has created trust between consumers and water providers.  Consumer anger, resulting from water disconnections, has virtually vanished because consumers take care of the water they have already bought.

Escom was the first to try out prepaid metering for their electricity and it is not regretting.  Airtel, TNM and ACESS are reaping great benefits through prepaid systems.

Sir/Madam, it surprises us, therefore, that Blantyre Water Board lags in the prepaid metering. It seems to refuse to learn and advance. To be blunt, Sir/Madam, we suspect some form of corruption in the way installation of prepaid meters is done.  How does Mr X’s home get jumped in favour of Mr Z’s in a location where Messrs VXYZ are neighbours?  How does an applicant Q get served earlier than applicant S who submitted his or her request a year earlier?

Sir/Madam, serve people without looking at their faces, places of origin, political affiliation, their ages or their financial statuses. Doing so is against Section 20 of the Malawi Constitution.

We have copied this missive to the Ombudswoman, the Executive Director of the Malawi Human Rights Commission, the Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the State President.

If you get a call from one or all these people, don’t be surprised.

We remain, your truly disappointed and disgusted water consumers in Blantyre.