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Counsel Dawasco may wish to heed
2008-04-23 09:13:09
By Editor
The Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation (Dawasco) has had it rough for so long that there is little anyone could envy it for.
It has had serious problems dealing with fake customers while ensuring that correctly prepared bills reach genuine ones promptly.
The corporation has on numerous occasions found it next to impossible to talk some of its customers into `voluntarily` paying their bills.
Many have protested being billed for water they had not consumed, as others were furious at the hugely inflated bills they were told to pay.
Cases raising the most eyebrows include those of people and institutions not qualifying as Dawasco customers enjoying the services offered by the corporation while genuine bill-paying customers faced chronic water cuts.
There have also been complaints about the corporation`s water pipes leaking for days on end with no action taken to contain the problem.
Many people have found the dillydallying puzzling and infuriating.
Recent efforts by the corporation to ensure that all those it serves pay have met stiff, sometimes bloody, resistance.
This is obviously nothing anyone ought to condone but, all things considered, it is understandable in the light of this foggy scenario.
Dawasco's two-pronged debt collection and water disconnection campaign is going on but, as has happened thus far, there are a number of obstacles and progress is slow.
But all is not lost. Dawasco can still save itself from going under, and there is no magic about the prescription it needs to do so.
Most of it lies in treating all its customers - big and small - fairly by ensuring that all are served excellently and pay their bills after being officially notified on the matter.
This presupposes that all customers will have functioning Dawasco water meters at their relevant premises.
It is also presumed that Dawasco staff will keep regular track of water supply and consumption trends and desist from overcharging anyone by basing on flat rate estimates or ignoring meter readings and cooking up figures.
Random surveys in Dar es Salaam and Coast regions, which Dawasco ought to serve, show that wananchi are ready to help in exposing people and institutions illegally connected to the corporation's supply lines.
Reports we are sure Dawasco has heard about talk of some of its bona fide customers having become so devious and unscrupulous that they are running on two sources of water - an official one linked to the corporation's meters and an illegal one bypassing the meters.
Very strangely, some months ago Dawasco declared some form of amnesty for all those hugely indebted to it after defaulting on their bills for long periods.
Loyal, bill-compliant customers were up in arms, wondering why they were not the ones so benefiting, but to no avail.
That was a fatal mistake the corporation should see as a marvellous lesson on how not to manage a crisis. One could go on and on ad infinitum.
We hope Dawasco CEO Alex Kaaya and his subordinates will read this article - and act accordingly.
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