Masalani town in Ijara Sub County has suffered a severe water crisis for the last two months following the disconnection of electricity at the Masalani water supply.

According to Masalani watchdog chairman Mr Abdullahi Abdi and women’s groups’ chairlady Amina Yussuf, some residents paid their water bills at Ksh1,000 per household per month through a pay bill created by Garissa County government, while others paid to the water cashier’s office in Masalani town.

The residents are now calling on the relevant department in the Ministry of Water to investigate if there is corruption involved at the source or at the Garissa County Government’s Water Department.

The residents lamented that it’s alleged that Masalani Water Supply Company owed Kenya Power Ksh300,000, leading the power company to disconnect the power supply at the intake, paralysing the water supply.

The Sub-County Water Coordinator, Eng. Noor Mohamed confirmed the pending bill of Ksh300,000 owed to Kenya Power but noted they had sent a payment voucher to the Garissa County Department of Water, and they expected the bill to be cleared soon.

Pending bills owed to Kenya Power

The officer in charge of operations at Kenya Power, Mr John Hezron, also confirmed the pending bill, saying power would be reconnected immediately the county government paid up.

The residents lamented that they had been using rainwater for survival, but the rains had subsided, and people were relying on raw water drawn from the Tana River by boda boda operators at a cost of KSh20 per 20-litre jerrican or groundwater from drilling points of the late Yussuf Haji Foundation tanks and three water drilling points at Majengo at Ksh20 and Fanjua water drilling points at KSh30 per jerrican. The residents feared the untreated water could also expose them to cholera and other waterborne diseases.

Abdi appealed to Garissa County Governor Nadhif Jama and Garissa Senator Abdul Mohamed Haji to come to their aid as institutions of learning like schools are unable to cope up with the expenses of water bowser that cost them ksh2000 to Ksh7000 according to their capacity.

Abdi said the County Department of Water should try to drill boreholes along the river in order to offset such problems of pending bills or breakdown of the water supply.