By Prince J. Musa in Kenema
Customers of the Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO) have frowned over what they refer to as exorbitant water rate charged by the water provider.
According some aggrieved customers in Kenema, what pains them most is the fact that they are not getting value for money as the quality of service provided by the rural water service provider is poor.
One customer, Jeneba Ansumana, a resident of Lumbebu Section in Kenema, told Politico that they were not getting water supply regularly but that the company always bring huge amount of bill to them at the end of the month. She said repeated complaints to the management of SALWACO has yielded no response.
“It took a long time without accessing water. We complained to the management and they promised to send people to find out about the cause of the problem. We don’t know where the fault lies and management has not been talking about it,” she said.
Ms Ansumana added that SALWACO should revisit their tariff system and take time to explain to customers the cost of re-connection, new connection and how to pay for the services provided.
“They need to tell us what matrix they use to calculate the charges and do bill before throwing huge charges at us,” she added.
Mohamed Konneh, another customer at IDA in Kenema, shared similar experience and concerns.
“Most time the water that comes out is dirty and we can’t afford to use it due to the colour of the water. We want to appeal to SALWACO to improve on their service for us especially as we approach the dry season. Even the taps that were erected at some strategic places in the city are not working. So we don’t known what is happening,” he said.
However, the SALWACO Station Manager in Kenema, Mohamed J. Sesay, denied the allegations, describing them as baseless and unfounded.
He said the company is providing water to the public from two sources; the gravity water and the treatment plant from the three town water project.
“There is no water shortage in Kenema City currently. When I took office as Manager in July, something like five months now, that is July ending August and September, our customer base increased and also revenue increased, which means people do not pay for services that do not benefit them. So the people pay and as a result of that they benefit from that,” he said.
He went on: “It was sometimes in October that we had a break and so there was shortage of water. That’s the honest truth. This was amended on the 6th of November. As I am speaking to you, there is no shortage of water. Another issue people might have complained about are the dams. We closed some dams because of human activities around them, causing pollution to the water. So because of that, we decided to close them in the Kamboi Hills.”
According Sesay, 21 water facilities have been constructed at certain communities. But he said these needed minor maintenance work, noting that he was going to handover those facilities to the communities by next week.
He assured that during this dry season, the people of Kenema will face no water crisis.
Sesay concluded by saying that the company operates meter system, which records the quantum of water been used by users and that at the end of the month it’s circulated and given to the customers. He said consumers just have to manage their usage of the water according to their capacity to pay.
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