Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company: A survey April - May 2005

Author: Transparency International Kenya

This pilot survey sought information on corruption in water services delivery with respect to the city of Nairobi. The survey was conducted at the request of the management of the Nairobi Water & Sewerage Services Company Limited (NWSC), the successor to the Nairobi City Council Water Department.

90 interviews were conducted during April-May 2005, with water supply consumers (both domestic and institutional), business associates of the company and employees of the company on their experiences with corruption (if any) within the organization.

Key Findings:

• Though nearly two-thirds of respondents (64.7%) had a corruption related experience within the last 5 Years in relation to water services, most respondents were of the view that the incidences of corruption had declined considerably since the assumption by the NWSC of the services.

• The staff of the NWSC are clear that the management of NWSC is intolerant of corruption within the organization, a radical change from the hitherto ambivalent indifference by the Nairobi City Council.

• The most common form of corruption in relation to water service delivery is persistent demand for bribes from the consumers (mainly the domestic ones).

• The department within NWSC most prone to corruption is the commercial department although a significant number of the respondents indicated in their response that corruption on the whole was practiced at every level of the company.

• The ethics and integrity guidelines published by the management of the NWSC were largely unclear or unknown to most junior workers.

• The initiatives of the Ethics and Integrity committee within NWSC were largely informal and a carry-over from the NCC. The Committee was therefore not fully operational and there does not appear to be an effective whistle-blowing system.

The study then concludes by making some recommendations for the reduction of the administrative procedures that facilitate corruption within the organization.

Link: Transparency International Kenya

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