Former President Kibaki faces water cut over Sh500K bill
Former President Mwai Kibaki owes a water company Sh500,000 and supply to his Othaya home in Nyeri County may be disconnected, MCAs were told on Thursday.
Othaya Mukurweini Water Company bosses informed the Nyeri County Assembly Health and Sanitation Committee that the bill had accrued since 2013.
The company officials were taken to task by members of the county assembly for failing to collect Sh108 million in debt.
The former President is one of the major individual debtors. Others on the list of major debtors, include Chinga Girls School, which owes the water company Sh5 million, and some local banks.
“We approached Mr Kibaki a few years ago before he left office and he ordered State House to settle the amount. They paid Sh200,000 then,” company internal auditor Peter Ndirangu said.
Committee chairman Stephen Mwaniki (Dedan Kimathi Ward) accused the firm of failing to explain how some Sh66 million was spent.
The auditor admitted that some documents were missing and asked for more time to get them.
“We did not know that we were required to produce such documents.”
He told the MCAs that the company did not have an updated list of debtors and had not disconnected water to supply to defaulters.
“This shows that your officers receive bribes to keep tap water flowing. If this debt trend continues, you will be insolvent in a few years,” warned Mr Mwaniki.
Mr Ndirangu said they had installed a new system to capture more data, including debts recovered.
There was a bitter exchange between the auditor and Mr Mwaniki when the chairman demanded a report by the firm’s audit committee board.
Mr Kibaki’s spokesman, Mr Gituku Ngari, declined to comment on the debt, saying such matters “are handled by the government according to the law on former presidents’ perks”.