Water is not cheap in Malawi

Someone please tell Minister of Forestry, Environment and Natural Resources Nancy Tembo, boards and managements of all water boards in the country to ignore what a senior water board official is saying—that water in Malawi is too cheap.

Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) chief executive officer (CEO) Sili Mbewe speaking on behalf of all the water boards in the country, told the nation during a ‘Face the Press’ event last week that water is too cheap in this country. Which water is too cheap? Unless one does not pay water bills, they cannot make such a ludicrous statement as fact.

Certainly not water from Malawi’s five water boards! And not least water from Lilongwe and Blantyre water boards. Yet preposterous as it sounds, that is exactly what Mbewe, flanked by Tembo and Minister of Information Gospel Kazako, tried to impress on consumers last week. And comparing the price of water to other products, Mbewe said what people pay for a 2 litre bottle of squash can buy them enough water for the whole month.

Apart from being a falsehood, the statement was a far cry from the best way of showing how cheap or costly a product is.

Additionally, the fact is that as public entities, taxpayer-funded water boards have a social responsibility to serve the people in the best way possible.

But what is mind-boggling is that water boards are on a campaign to raise water tariffs barely a month after a record water tariff increase averaging 53 percent. The boards are eyeing a 40 percent increase next year, and another 10 percent in 2023, without considering how the move would hurt consumers. The point I am making is that both in absolute terms and considering the cost of living, water in Malawi is very expensive. Water board officials only look at it as expensive because of inefficiencies in production.

Let us compare the cost of water in Malawi with Zambia our closest regional neighbour with whom we share a lot of things economically and culturally. 

Zambia has six water councils which are also responsible for sanitation. For the first tariff band—from 0 to 6 cubic metres—Zambians pay ZK4.72, which is MK215 at the rate of MK45.7 to one Zambian kwacha. Compare this with Malawi where to buy 6 cubic metres, you have to cough MK7 500.  The trend is the same with other tariff bands. That is not all. The above rates for Zambia water councils include costs of sewage collection. In Malawi, home-owners pay for sewage collection separately.

On the other hand, on cost of living, Zambia is 30 percent cheaper than Malawi. You pay 47.3 percent less for food in Zambian restaurants than in Malawi. You pay 39.1 percent less for groceries; a bottle of water which you buy at MK250 in Malawi, only costs the equivalent of MK95 in Zambia. You pay MK34.9 percent less for transportation in Zambia than in Malawi (feeslewhere.com).

On raising water tariffs, Chambeshi Water Council in Zambia, for example, has planned to raise water tariffs by 11 percent. But this will be phased over three years. But here water boards want to load consumers with a 50 percent bill increase in just two years on top of the 53 percent increase in 2021. 

So, you see how absurd and devoid of truth Mbewe’s statement about the cost of water in Malawi is, when compared to Zambia. Water in Malawi is not cheap.

The biggest problem facing our water boards is corruption which results in operational inefficiencies. For many years, ruling parties have also been using water boards as their cash cows. And we have sung this song to the point of boredom. Just like what has been happening at Escom, people are given tenders to supply materials that are either obsolete or not delivered in full, or not required at all. Consequently, the water boards have problems maintaining their infrastructures. Add to that the many illegal connections.

Also imagine this. BWB collects about K1.5 billion a month and then pays over a billion for electricity. Seriously something is very wrong here. This is where we need the public service reform most. Water boards should root out graft, monetise non-revenue water which at one point accounted for a third of all the water BWB was producing, and reduce production costs. Water boards should find ways of reducing their electricity bills.

Last, but not least in importance, water boards should desist from making consumers pay for their inefficiency which is what increasing water tariffs willy-nilly means.