How Kitengela water cartels control multi-million shilling business
A woman fetches water from a private vendor Kingela town on August 2, 2023. The town is facing an acute water shortage.
Over the years, water politics has subjected Kitengela town residents to perennial shortages.
Eleven years into devolution, water scarcity in the town is glaring and prices are skyrocketing. The town has neither a nearby river nor a water reservoir.
In the last three general elections, water scarcity has been used as a political "bargaining tool" by politicians, but the promises have ended up unfulfilled.
In 2019, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose family has a farm in Kitengela, ordered the Ministry of Water and Sanitation to work with Kajiado County government to ensure a steady supply of clean water to the town.
Under a directive from the then President, the Kajiado County government was to spend Sh20 million on eight kiosks and the Nairobi Water and Sewage Company (NWSC) was to reroute the main pipeline at Kyangombe, within Kitengela town, to serve the proposed eight kiosks.
The Ministry of Water and Sanitation banned the sale of water by private companies in the region, prompting the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) to cut off the piped fresh water supply to houses in the EPZ estate, part of Kitengela town and Milimani estate.
Local leaders associated themselves with the project's success, only to keep quiet when it collapsed months later.
Read: Water vendors make a killing in Kitengela
"The cheap water lasted for a few months before prices were increased from three to five shillings per 20 litre jerrican," said Kitengela resident Stephen Senteu.
In December 2019, Kajiado Governor Joseph Lenku initiated a plan to take over the water supply from EPZA but the process was aborted due to bureaucracy as EPZA abandoned the pipeline with Mavoko Water and Sewage (Mavwasco) claiming the same.
A spot check by Nation.Africa on August 3, 2023, revealed an acute water shortage in Kitengela town. Hand and donkey-drawn carts were seen supplying the precious commodity to the town's residents.
Private water kiosks are back in business in the town. A 20-litre jerrycan of salty water sells for between Sh10 and Sh20, while a jerrycan of freshwater sells for between Sh30 and Sh50, much to the chagrin of locals currently hit hard by the high cost of living.
The salty water is sourced from local boreholes while the freshwater is transported from Nairobi city. Unscrupulous water vendors are said to be controlling the multi-million-shilling business at the expense of local people. The cartels have been creating artificial water shortages to frustrate government projects to provide cheap water.
Nation.Africa has learnt that some water vendors own a fleet of water browsers that sell both salt and fresh water.
"The unscrupulous water vendors have sabotaged the government project. They use their tankers to ferry fresh water from Nairobi to Kitengela, earning millions of shillings," said a Kitengela resident.
In the 2023/2024 budget, the Kajiado County government has allocated Sh477 million to the water department.
Read: Shocking reality of Kenya's water crisis
It is also looking to partner with the national government for the construction of Olooloitikoshi, whose feasibility studies and designs have been completed. Once implemented, it will address water shortages in Kitengela and Isinya towns.
Locals want President William Ruto's administration to intervene to break the water cartels in Kitengela.
"Let President Ruto come to our rescue, the water shortage in Kitengela has been a circus for years, we are suffering," said Ms Evelyn Maingi.
According to the Ministry of Water's 2019 survey, Kitengela town has a population of 500,000 people who require 30,000 cubic metres daily.
Private boreholes provide only 5,000 cubic metres daily, while water vendors make up the shortfall of 25,000 cubic metres. Over the past year, most of the boreholes have dried up due to drought.
