Mpira Water Trust under fire

Members of Sawali Citizen Forum have accused Mpira Water Trust for not doing enough to help them access water from Mpira Dam with ease.

Speaking during an interface meeting organised by Water Aid in Balaka on Friday, Senior Group Village Head Mpoto from Traditional Authority (T/A) Sawali said they were forced to dig trenches so that pipes should pass through from Mpira up to Sawali Village, a job which took over five years to complete.

He said the installation of pipes started in 1987 and was completed in 1992, but the villagers only accessed water for one year.

“When we completed the job, which was done in very tough and arduous conditions, the villagers thought that was the end of water problems in this area. We were surprised that we just accessed the water in 1993 and that was it,” he said.

But one of Mpira Water trustees, T/A Kwataine of Ntcheu, said it is not true that they are deliberately not providing water to villagers around the dam, saying most of the pipes are now old because they were installed over 20 years ago.

He said most of the pipes around villages in Mpira Dam are obsolete and need an overhaul.

“We formed this trust four years ago just to make sure that the dam still provides water to residents around Ntcheu and Balaka. However, what we have seen is that most of the pipes in the surrounding villages are old and water cannot pass through.

“We are trying our best to make sure that we overhaul the whole system,” said Kwataine.

He said the trust was formed because government was decentralising most of its operations, including the running of the Mpira Dam.

Asked why they sell the water to residents of Balaka Township instead of the villagers, Kwataine said they went into an agreement with the board to help them with chemicals and buy water in bulk.

“It is not like we are neglecting the villagers, but once we have enough resources, we will make sure that water reaches all the areas that require water around Mpira,” he said.