Like passports, like BWB

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services is haunted by digital mercenaries who reportedly hacked the passport printing system and locked officers from accessing it.

To President Lazarus Chakwera, this is a serious breach of national security which must be urgently rectified.

He told Parliament that hackers were demanding billions to unlock the system.

Believe it or not, the crisis lays bare that the nation is not serious about critical issues, including security.

Stories of passport challenges have gone far and wide, eroding the travel document’s confidentiality and worth.

Yet, the President only threatened to fire the department’s leaders unless the system was recovered within three weeks.

It is unclear whether the ultimatum has been met or the announced recovery of the hacked data is just a ploy to buy time.

However, allowing the people who oversaw the passport system being ‘stolen’ to remain in their positions does not speak well of Chakwera’s stance on matters of national interest.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and the late John Magufuli of Tanzania would not have allowed this. Certainly, heads would roll. But Chakwera is neither Kagame nor Magufuli.

While the nation is grappling with the passport crisis, it must not forget the circus at Blantyre Water Board (BWB), another government entity where management is presiding over a mess that should not be entertained in this digital age.

At a time other water boards are expanding the installation of prepaid water meters to improve revenue collection and allow customers to take control of water consumption, BWB is replacing them with the old postpaid meters.

This wouldn’t be a big issue without the inefficiencies that necessitated the postpaid meters recall, except in a few parts of Blantyre City.

However, there is no better explanation for the recall of prepaid meters,

Let us talk about incompetence and inefficiency.

With postpaid meters, there were several complaints, mainly the high cost of meter readers and monthly bills that did not correspond with the water consumed.

The return to postpaid meters removes customers’ power to use water according to their budgets. With prepaid gadgets,  planning how to use the water purchased is easy.

But the dictators at BWB are taking such power away, probably because the board does not want the customers to consume what they can afford, but whatever it will charge them at the whims of meter readers and their bosses.

In a public announcement, BWB vaguely cited some problems with the prepaid gadgets for the recall.

This could be a story of procurement shortcuts, lax maintenance culture or the water board’s failure to manage its prepaid devices.

Do those who monitor and oversee the operations of the meters know the equipment BWB procured after due diligence?

I am saying all this because it cannot only be the BWB meters that have faults. Why are other water boards not equally affected?

I understand that the meters are supposed to be constantly checked so faults are fixed and defective parts, including drained batteries, can be replaced swiftly.

This has not been happening.

BWB is now punishing angry consumers, who are grappling with hunger, rising cost of living and poor governance, to the limits.

The government’s silence over BWB’s inefficiency would make one think that some of its ministries, departments and agencies are conspiring to make the current regime the most hated in the country’s history.

As pressure piles on heads responsible for printing passports and its Cabinet minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, so should it be on BWB leadership and the seemingly indifferent Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia. Both institutions need to be investigated to identify bad apples.