LWB pounces on Malawi army, Police and Prison over K3.7bn unpaid water bills

The Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) has pounced on Malawi Defence Force (MDF), Malawi Prison and Malawi Police Service (MPS) among other institutions for failing to pay water bills amounting to over K3.7 billion.

Lilongwe Water Board

Lilongwe Water Board is one of government agencies failing to operate due to outstanding bills owed by other state institutions as well as private companies.

On Wednesday 20th June, 2018, MDF, Prison and MPS officers were taken by a surprise when LWB officers stormed their offices to disconnect water for failing to service their water accounts regularly.

According to information Nyasa Times has sourced, MDF owes the water utility company K1.1 billion, Malawi Prison K270 million while MPS owes LWB K1.035 billion.

When contacted, LWB assistant Public Relations Officer, Maurice Nkawihe confirmed that they have disconnected water supply to several institutions including domestic customers with outstanding bills.

“All I can say is that as Lilongwe Water Board we are currently on a massive disconnection campaign targeting all unpaid accounts with more than 30 days of outstanding bills. The exercise is ongoing and is not selective,” explained Nkawihe.

Nkawihe said the failure by customers to service their accounts regularly has crippled the operations of the company which is struggling to meet the growing water demand and is able to only meet 75 percent of about 1.1 million people in the city.

“We need money to improve our services and that can only happen if customers pay their bills on time. We can’t always depend on donors or loans to improve our services. For us to meet the water demand we have to upgrade and improve production and distribution systems and that require investments. The money customers, both residential and corporate, owe us can assist in that area,” he added.

Apart from MDF and MPS, other institutions that have been disconnected water due to outstanding bills include Bwaila District Hospital which owes LWB K110.2 million, Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) K305.4 million, Malawi College of Health Sciences K37.1 million, Lilongwe Teachers Training College K42.9 million and Lilongwe Girls Secondary School which owes LWB K106.9 million.

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :

Sharing is caring!

Follow us in Twitter
7 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Kanjedza
Kanjedza
5 years ago

LWB is not a saint as well. They even disconnect if the bills are paid. When you go to them, they say the system shows, bill unpaid. So you pay the amount and pay the reconnection fee as well. After that you ask for the statement and they say pay Mk 500-00 at the bank counter and when you prove that there is no outstanding or unpaid bills, they say peppani it was a mistake and forgive us. After that you wait for two days to get reconnected. This is day light robbery and blackmailing

Peter
Peter
5 years ago

Kuba amalawi why all that money not being paid and yet they are big institutions

Shear-jashub
Shear-jashub
5 years ago

Put these institutions on prepaid water metering!

Cognitive DIssonance Theory
Cognitive DIssonance Theory
5 years ago

ndiye mutizi dziko likuyenda bwino???? the best lilongwe water board can do is install pre-paid meters at this institutions.

#DzukaniAmalawi
#DzukaniAmalawi
5 years ago

Unpaid Water Bills = MKW3,7 billion. Funds set aside for looting but disguised as :Constituency Development Fund” = MKW4 billion. Is this coincidence?

Chappe;
5 years ago

It is scandalous that these government institutions do not pay their water bills on time. How can LWB be expected to meet its obligations and develop its infra-structure when its services are not paid for? The government and its institutions should be beacons of good example by meeting their financial obligations. Yet another example of why Malawi is so underdeveloped and lagging behind other African countries. Could it be that those water bills have not been paid because someone is embezzling the funds meant to pay them? In any case the whole affair smacks of corruption.

Ecclesia
Ecclesia
5 years ago
Reply to  Chappe;

What about the money government takes away from these institutions regularly?

Read previous post:
Mercy James Centre at Queen’s Hospital successfully operates on co-joined twins

The recently constructed Mercy James Centre under the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) has done its major operation by separating...

Close