By Philip Wafula
By Jacobs Odongo Seaman
A sweeping theft of water metres from residents in Mpumudde Sub-county, Kimaka Division, Jinja City has left many victims not only without services, but also counting the cost.But as the victims carry their jerrycans to fetch water from communal sources, a feeling of betrayal lingers, with speculation growing over the manner of vandalism, especially one that took place on the night of September 4.A power cut at 8pm affected Mpumudde Estate and appeared to have given the vandals the confidence to get their act going.“I find it weird that random water metre thieves can have the confidence of going about blocking every pipe from which they stole a metre to stop water from flowing freely,” a resident of National Housing Village, who preferred anonymity, said.An assessment carried out by Daily Monitor on Wednesday showed that most of the vandalised water systems had their supply lines rigged with water pipe stoppers, the kind National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) disconnection agents use to stop water from flowing after disconnecting the metre.Mr Jowali Mugudde, a former NWSC plumbing agent, said such “organised massive theft” could only have been an “inside job”, but likely without the knowledge of the utility provider.
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However, Mr John Fisher Sekabira, a principal corporate digital strategist at NWSC, said water pipe stoppers, like other plumbing units, are openly available on the market, adding that the vandals probably felt water gushing may be an inconvenience as they went about their door-to-door crime.Water metre theft has become rampant in the country, with Jinja, especially flagged as a red spot for the vice. In July, NWSC issued an alert to customers in Jinja and Njeru to watch out for theft of the utility fixture.Is NWSC involved?At Mpumudde Police Station, an officer recording complaints, said theft of water metres in Jinja City had become rampant and claimed that the police were aware NWSC was involved.“What we haven’t yet established is what they do with these metres, but we know there are people in NWSC who are engaged in this theft,” the officer, who preferred to speak anonymously, said.Dr Charles Okuonzi, the general manager of NWSC in Jinja, dismissed the claims as “speculative” and challenged those suggesting so to bring evidence that would help them investigate and apprehend the culprits.“To prematurely prosecute, judge and condemn it as a corruption within the utility provider without proper basis is really unfair. To attempt to punish the robbed and protect the robber is not only harsh but unjust,” he said.Dr Okuonzi admitted that there was a spike in water metre thefts in many towns in Uganda and that in Jinja, it was at it’s peaked in Mpumudde area.Mr Mugudde said the brass used in the metre component is an expensive metal that makes the water equipment marketable.“A few grams of it costs Shs7,000 and they are good for making door handles and locks,” he said.Mr Sekabira said investigations point to metal fabricators, who steal them to smelt the brass for gate paintings.“We have a team from ISO and other agencies who have shared these findings with us. A couple of fabricators have been arrested,” he said without going into the specifics.Other sources say the brass is shaved and used in fake gold scam where the powder is presented to unsuspecting buyers as gold.Mr Sam Apadel, the NWSC spokesperson, said the utility has lobbied the Judiciary and a special utilities court has been established in Kampala to expeditiously handle cases of theft and vandalism .“Whoever is caught stealing metres will be prosecuted and suffer penalties prescribed in the law,” he said, adding:“Whenever metres are stolen, NWSC loses and our good-paying customers suffer great inconvenience.” Who should pay for replacement?At the centre of metre theft is the customer who must pay Shs101,000 for a replacement.During the water connection process, customers pay for the metre and other equipment. Many, therefore, feel paying for a replacement of a stolen metre amounts to exploitation.“A person who steals a metre forces a difficult decision on everyone. Unfortunately, the current position requires the customer to meet the replacement cost since they are responsible for the protection of the metre,” Dr Okuonzi said.He added that while many cases are genuine, the utility body has in the past registered cases where customers had deliberately removed the metres to hide water consumption.Interestingly, the customer cannot remove the metre if they are shifting from on house to another, even if they paid for it.“The metre is associated with the premise on which it is installed. Every metre is associated with the plot number of the land. It is geo-referenced and given location details,” Mr Apadel said.Dr Okuonzi added: “Control-wise, NWSC implements a tight metre control system. All metres carry unique serial numbers and cannot be reused. Our stores only receive serialised metres from our central stores in Kampala. After that, they are installed and updated in our billing system.“There is no way someone can steal a metre and return the same to our stores for reissue. Even logically, it carries no benefit to the so-called thief because at the end of the day, payments for such replacement metres are directly made on NWSC bank accounts. So how will the staff-thief even benefit?” he further said.Daily Monitor has, however, spoke to some customers who say they shifted to new places with their metres.There were also claims that the utility insures all water metres during procurement and that compelling customers to meet the cost of replacement of stolen metres amounts to double payment since the victims would already be taxpayers who foot the cost of the insurance.But NWSC refuted the claims, saying if the metres were insured, then the insurance company would simply reimburse the costs and customers would get back free metres.“NWSC cannot play such fraudulent games of claiming money from insurance and again charging customers,” Dr Okuonzi said, adding: “I know the current policy does nothing to address the underlying causes and how the problem might be reduced or eliminated. Thus we are working with stakeholders to address the underlying drivers.” About a water metre Function. A water metre measures the quantity (volume) of water that passes through a pipe or other outlet. Typically, metres use a standard unit of measure for volume, such as cubic feet or gallons. A metre works like a car odometre, recording the cumulative amount of water that has passed through the metre.
