A new era for water governance in Kenya?

The Kenyan government recognises that effective governance is essential for national water management. Kenya’s Water Act of 2002 established a Water Services Regulatory Board to issue licenses to water providers (Water Service Boards), determine standards of service, handle consumer complaints and advise on how to provide cost-effective and efficient services. Are the reforms working?

Research from the University of Westminster in the UK evaluates Kenya's water governance framework. Water governance refers to the range of political, social, economic and administrative systems that regulate the development and management of water resources and provision of water services.

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is an initiative that has addressed issues of water governance and proposed solutions to key problems – failure to cope with demand, failure to manage supply, institutional weaknesses and financial and technical shortcomings – found across the globe.

Kenya is not meeting GWP benchmarks. A high level of water is unaccounted for: water loss in many urban areas is 40–70 per cent due to leakages, theft (through illegal connections) and collusion between revenue collectors and consumers. Most water consumers are not metered.

Record-keeping is poor and billing and revenue collection practices are inefficient. Tariffs are uneconomic as consumers do not pay the real cost of getting water to them. Poor people are generally denied services either because they live far from the nearest network or because water service providers view them as commercially unattractive. Utility companies are overstaffed – commonly there are 25–50 employees per 1,000 water connections.

The Water Act established a National Monitoring and Information System to collect and analyse water industry data and ensure it is publicly available.  It is becoming an important channel of communication between top water managers and the public. New procedures for public consultation represent a commendable attempt to involve the public in water policy debates.

However, the Act has shortcomings:

• Procedures for determining standards and prices are unclear: will consumers be involved?
• The Water Services Regulatory Board (WSRB) has powers to determine water prices, but the legislation does not specify how this is to be done.
• It is vague about how to ensure that members of each Water Service Board (WSB) are drawn from a representative population of stakeholders.
• The minister responsible for water has wide powers to define the jurisdiction of a WSB and choose its members.
• It is not clear how the Water Services Trust Fund – set up to extend water networks to unserved areas – relates to other agencies.

If Kenya is to develop a model system of water governance the authorities should recognise that:

• metering is necessary for an open and transparent billing system
• uneconomic tariffs have implications for social equity where rich people pay for water at the same rate as poor people, but derive more benefit from it as a public good
• price and standard setting procedures must be clarified
• There is a conflict of interest when the minister is allowed to appoint and oversee the operations of both WSBs and the WSRB
• participatory approaches, accountability and transparency must be promoted
• as many consumers are illiterate, verbal communications from the public should be recorded and acted upon.

Source(s):
‘Toward effective governance of water services in Kenya’, Water Policy 9, pp 529–543, by O. A. K’Akumu, 2007

id21 Research Highlight: 11 October 2007

Further Information:
Owiti A. K’Akumu
School of Architecture and the Built Environment
University of Westminster
35 Marylebone Road
London, NW1 5LS
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 79115000
Fax: +44 (0) 20 79115171
Contact the contributor: owiti.kakumu@yahoo.com; o.kakumu1@westminster.ac.uk

School of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster, UK

Other related links:
'Playing with privatisation – experiences in Kenya’s water sector'

'Regulation partnerships for African water utilities'

'Linking sanitation, water and livelihoods in Nairobi slums'

'Urban governance and access to basic services'

'Water kiosk operators achieve credibility in Nairobi slum'

'Men, women and water – how can a community improve their water supply?' >

'Marketing water and sanitation to poor people'