Fear of disease outbreak is looming at the Naivasha GK prison after the facility sewerage system was cut off by staff from Naivasha Water and Sanitation Company over Sh.6 million water bill arrears.
The move comes a few days after the water company disconnected water supply to the largest penal institution that is home to over 3,000 inmates.
During the incident, drama unfolded as prison warders tried to arrest the Managing Director of the Water Company Eng. Nahashon Wahome and his staff for allegedly trespassing on the prisons land.
Wahome said he led his staff to the institution to disconnect the sewer system after calls and letters to pay the debt were not responded to by the prison management.
The MD claimed the prison was one of leading institutions that owed the company millions of shillings adding that the company had in the past engaged senior officers from prison headquarters over the pending bill before disconnecting the water supply.
“We have been very patient and even tried to engage the management at the headquarters which has failed to act,” he said.
Wahome added that the company was owed millions of shillings by area residents with government departments leading, a move he said had adversely affected operations of the water company.
He added that the company had resolved to embark on a campaign to collect their dues as their last resort so that they can continue offering services to their clients.
Wahome cited other institutions such as the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute as among many government institutions that owed the company millions of shillings in unpaid water bills, adding that efforts to have the arrears settled had hit the wall.
He said that they were investigating reports that the institute was dumping their waste into the nearby bushes which is home to hundreds of wild animals.
The disconnections have now forced the prison management to seek services from other water providers using water tanks to supply the institution as it emerged that services in the prison had been overstretched.
Speaking on phone, a senior officer from Prison and who declined to be named termed the current situation in the penal institution as very serious.
He noted that the water supplied by the water tankers was not enough adding that this had affected operations in the country’s largest penal institution.
By Esther Mwangi/Brian Kamau
