Water Cabinet Secretary Eugine Wamalwa has directed the Coast Water Board to connect water that it had disconnected for a week over debts. The outstanding bill for the entire Coast region is Sh1.2 billion.
The county governments had refused to pay insisting that the bills were inherited from the defunct councils. On Saturday the Cabinet secretary asked the Coast water board not to collect debts until proper consultation with the Transition Authority had been done.
“We have concluded that the debts, which were inherited from the defunct local government, should be shelved for a while until proper consultation with the Transition Authority,” he said. During a tour in Kwale County, Wamalwa noted that the disconnections had affected Pwani University, which has since closed. He assured everyone that disconnections would not occur again without consultation.
He was concerned that a University could be closed because of water.
—Tobias Chanji