Pressure continues to pile on Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu over licensing of Thika Water and Sewerage Company (Thiwasco).
A section of leaders and residents from Thika say that Waititu’s merger plan of all eight water companies in Kiambu County is ill-informed.
The Kiambu Governor in March this year merged the county’s eight water companies to form the Kiambu Water and Sewerage Company Limited (KWSCL) despite a court order halting the merger plan.
Thika residents and some Kiambu leaders who have since moved to court seeking dissolution of KWSCL and restoration of Thiwasco as an independent entity in a stakeholders meeting with the Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb) at Blue Post hotel on Tuesday said they want the company given back to them.
“We’re comfortable with the services that the company (Thiwasco) has been offering. Our call is that Thika goes back to supplying water to its consumers as an independent entity,” Gladys Chania said during an interview Friday.
The Kiambu-based politician insisted that consumers are the sole owners of Thiwasco.
“Thiwasco is a consumer invested company plus all its assets and as residents of Thika, we hereby declare Thiwasco to be licensed to continue serving the residents of Thika and its earlier jurisdiction."
Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina supported the call to have Thiwasco licensed to operate independently.
He said it will allow the company under the Danida project to be funded by the World Bank to a tune of Sh11 billion in a bid to improve water accessibility and layout proper sewerage infrastructure.
According to Wainanina, the project will ensure that Thika residents have an adequate water supply up to 2048.
Wasreb CEO Eng Robert Gakubia during the stakeholders meeting on Tuesday maintained that Thiwasco exists as an independent entity since KWSCL has not complied with set regulatory requirements by the agency.
Thiwasco Managing Director Eng. Moses Kinya observed that the company has so far served 239,793 households in Thika.
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