Your Planned AGM illegal, Murang’a’s Kahuti Water told

Kahuti Water and Sanitation Company Chairperson Frashia Kamau (3rd right) and other officials after a meeting on April 5, 2019. The Murang'a County government has warned the officials against holding the firm's AGM scheduled for April 24. PHOTO | NDUNG'U GACHANE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The county administration explained that all the water companies are devolved entities.
  • The notice signed noted that the High Court ruled that the water companies cannot operate independent of the county government.
  • Kahuti Water’s chairperson Frashia Kamau said that they are consulting with stakeholders on the way forward.

Water wars in Murang’a County are about to resume after Governor Mwangi Wa Iria’s administration cautioned one of the water companies not to hold its planned annual general meeting, saying that doing so will be contravening the law.

The county government, in an advertisement on Daily Nation on April 17, warned officials of Kahuti Water and Sanitation Company not to conduct the proposed AGM which is scheduled to take place on April 24.

Members of public, suppliers and banks were also cautioned not to involve themselves with the meeting with a warning that anyone who will violate the directive will suffer the consequences.

DEVOLVED ENTITIES

The county administration explained that all the water companies are devolved entities and that their assets were transferred and gazetted to and by the county administration and as such they were subjected to public management.

The notice signed by the Water and Irrigation CEC noted that the Murang’a High Court in 2017 ruled that the water companies cannot operate independent of the county government.

The assets of the water companies were thus transferred to the county government, meaning that they must operate as public institutions as stipulated by the Public Finance Management Act of 2012.

“And to provide a comprehensive legal framework for the operationalisation of the water entities, the assembly passed the Murang’a County Water and Sanitation Services Act, 2018 which established the Murang’a Water and Sewerage Corporation with boards to discharge the mandate of water provision,” the advert read.

NEW BOARD

Following the enactment of the Water Act, Governor Wa Iria gazetted the new board of management for the five water companies but they have never assumed office as the water firms refused to recognise them.

In reaction, Kahuti Water’s chairperson Frashia Kamau Wednesday told the Nation that the AGM is a statutory requirement of every water company but added that they are consulting with stakeholders on the way forward.

“We are following the law since the AGM is a statutory requirement for water companies, but we are consulting on the way forward,” she said without giving more details.

The water companies have never filed a petition to challenge the Water Act even after the Water Services Regulatory Authority dismissed the law, saying it contravened the existing water laws.