Dereliction of duty and endless water crises in Dar es Salaam Tanzania

Things started to fall apart in the late 1970s. The economy was failing just as the population was expanding rapidly. As a result, investment in public infrastructure could not keep up.

Manzese, for instance, became the largest unplanned settlement in Tanzania with the development of the Ubungo Industrial Area. With no planning and no investment, by the late 1980s, many of its 60,000 residents depended on private vendors for water supply.

The now-defunct National Urban Water Authority (Nuwa) was in a shambles. It probably had the highest number of employees per 1,000 connections in Africa, but the lowest collection rate and the highest level of unaccounted-for water. Three-quarters of the water produced was lost. Nuwa staff committed 90 percent of the theft. Revenues from only 16 percent of what was delivered were collected.

People yearned for change. A Repoa report published in 2003 observed that 61 percent of residents desired a private water supplier. Amidst so much controversy, the government awarded a British company called City Water Services the contract to oversee the water supply.

Things got worse.

Revenue collection fell, and the number of new connections fell as well. In retrospect, this was a loss-loss scenario. Government interference, labour disputes, inadequate investment, and other reasons made success inconceivable.

The government renationalised water supply operations in Dar.

By 2010, Dar had a population of 4 million residents, stretching the regional boundaries all around. Water, on the other hand, remained a scarce resource. Despite Dar accounting for 80 percent of the industrial activity in Tanzania, inadequate water supply forced the likes of TBL, TCC, Urafiki, UFI, and Wazo to drill their own wells. That still accounts for more than 30 percent of water use in Dar today.

In the 2010s, the government ramped up water distribution efforts. Coverage reached about 85 percent by 2020, but supply remained sporadic at best. The United States and India each contributed funds to upgrade Lower and Upper Ruvu, respectively. Water production increased by up to 50 percent.

However, the Wami-Ruvu basin was under severe stress. By 2018, the volumes had dipped dangerously below the Falkenmark Water Scarcity Indicator (1000). Four rainy seasons that practically failed in 2021 and 2022 followed. They spelt danger for Dar and Pwani residents.

The proposed Kidunda Dam was billed to answer all of these problems. The idea is to tame the Ruvu River, which usually carries enough water in a year to last Dar for six years. The government initiated the project a decade ago, but it was considered unessential. Implementation dragged on.

More could have been done to prepare for the impending disaster. Today, the government says it can generate 70 million litres from six wells in a couple of days from Kigamboni. It says that the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (Dawasa) has 197 wells undergoing maintenance now. Finally, it also says that it can connect different water pipes to transport water from one side of the city to the other. The question is – why was this not done three or six months earlier?

The history of water supply services in Dar reflects the quality of leadership Tanzania has. In short, it is a cacophony of errors. Technically, it is called dereliction of duty, defined as a purposeful or accidental failure to perform an obligation without a reasonable excuse. When a soldier sleeps on duty; gets drunk on duty; or abandons his post, those are examples of dereliction of duty.

When Dar went through a water crisis last year, residents were treated to dramatic scenes as leaders paraded themselves on TV to assure the public that things were in order. But here we are all over again.

The leadership bar in Tanzania has been set too low.

When you fail to provide water, blame God and get away with it. When rivers run dry from mismanagement, blame foreigners, economic activities, and other stuff. It does not matter that you are the one responsible for handling such problems in the first place. Just complain like everyone else.

Speaking of abandoning one’s duty station.

Similarly, while you can see the crisis approaching from a mile away, do not alert people of the impending disaster. Tarry until it has fully materialised before cutting off the water abruptly, leaving them in utter distress.

Speaking of sleeping on the job.

When the crisis hits, do not supply the little water you have equitably. Just choose the neighbourhoods you like, and sacrifice the rest. Better still, when some people pay you money, ensure they have water every night to fill up their tanks. If being irresponsible costs you nothing, why burden yourself with pointless responsibilities?

Speaking of being drunk on duty.

How often does the government fail to show up when expected? Tanzanians are used to fend for themselves like a herd without a shepherd. Just observe the number of women and children carrying water buckets in Dar today. And just observe those citizens pulling the crashed Precision Air plane from Lake Victoria in Bukoba!

I had a friend on that plane. A brilliant lady. She did not make it.

Sun Tzu observed that ‘preparedness against the unexpected is a way of good government’. But in Tanzania, we allow ourselves too many excuses for failure. Nothing appears to be sacred to us. Everything is negotiable.

No water outages. No power failures. No food insecurities. And no poor education. Whatever it takes. Is this too much to expect from the leadership?