Bribery invades water sector, hampers services

Sep 08, 2009

ACCESS to safe water is hampered by corruption, the World Bank has said in a report. The baseline survey on integrity in the Ugandan water supply was commissioned by Transparency International on behalf of the Water Integrity Network.

By Gerald Tenywa
and Henry Mukasa

ACCESS to safe water is hampered by corruption, the World Bank has said in a report.

“More than half of the respondents (56%) indicated that they had either experienced or witnessed an offer to get a metre bypass in return for a bribe,” said the report.

The baseline survey on integrity in the Ugandan water supply was commissioned by Transparency International on behalf of the Water Integrity Network.

“Sixteen percent offered a bribe to speed up service, 10% offered a bribe to falsify metre readings and six percent to avoid disconnection,” it said.

A total of 833 respondents in the eight districts of Masaka, Mubende, Kabarole, Mbarara, Jinja, Tororo, Lira and Arua were interviewed.
Access to safe water in rural areas stands at 63% while it is 61% in urban ones.

According to the report, customers of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation and private operators are asked to pay extra costs outside the official fees for services to be rendered.

Two-thirds of the respondents said they were asked extra charges, such as facilitation of staff, purchase of materials and labour charges.

The survey found that a household on average pays sh35,887 unofficial costs to get a connection, while one fifth reported having paid above sh50,000, thus making it difficult for the poor to gain access to the service.

Ironically, while consumers said graft was a serious offence, few report corruption, mainly for fear of being victimised.

Other reasons cited for not reporting were that corruption is a common practice, that they did not know where to report and that they believed reporting corruption was meaningless since no action would be taken.

The report says 75% of the consumers were satisfied with the service provided while the rest expressed dissatisfaction.

Complaints included irregular flow, hardness of water, smelly water, poor service and insufficient flow.

Asked about the causes of poor water service by the water corporation, respondents cited inaccurate billing, delayed connection, delays in bill delivery and reconnection after disruption.

The report, however, noted a commitment within the Government to improve the sector.

“The water sector has a plan and recommendations to promote good governance,” Silver Sewanyana, the director of Winsor Consult that carried out the survey, told The New Vision.

Between 10% and 15% of the water sector investment is lost to corruption, undermining poverty alleviation efforts.

Sewanyana said corruption occurs at three levels: the urban water suppliers, the district water officers and the community level where money for operation and maintenance is collected. There is also corruption in the procurement of contracts.

At the community level, there are guidelines for collecting money for occasional repairs. But when the expenditure is made, there are no receipts. Consequently, the users do not have confidence in the water use committee.

At the district level, water officers spend money with minimal supervision and connive with the contractors to embezzle it, according to Sewanyana.

The researchers found many cases where contractors complained that the money was not enough and were given more by the water officers.

The main issues in urban areas, particularly Kampala, are falsifying meters, tampering with bills and systems. Seven out of 10 clients bribe for by-passes, the survey found.

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