Government to vet all water company managers

Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui

All water company managers in the country will soon be vetted by the ministry of water under Water Service Regulatory Board, the government has announced.

Water and irrigation Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui said on Thursday that the ministry had decided to issue the directive to the county governments so that the companies can be managed effectively.

Among the top managers to be vetted were managing directors, Technical, Commercial and Human resource managers.

“We want the companies to be run by professionals and that is why the ministry will soon issue a directive to these effect. Most of these companies offer poor services due to lack of professionalism and that is why we will intervene since water is a shared resource,” said Chelugui.

He regretted that there was a lot of mismanagement and corruption in the companies and hence leading to the national governments intervention.

“For example, you do not appoint a technical manager in Nairobi Water Company who does not know where the pipes are. This is what is happening in these water companies,” said the cabinet secretary.

He at the same time said that a directive would also be issued to the county governments for all of them to establish tree nurseries.

This is a result of their failure to protect water catchment areas.