Juba residents decry water shortage as resource’s supplies dim
Most people shared with The City Review their devastation over the weekend, and the lack of access to the important commodity, and called for immediate resolution
By James Chatim
Eunice Kasule, a businesswoman running a restaurant and supplying food to customers in Thongpiny, Juba, was devastated person the better part of Saturday. She had the commodities ready. Her kitchen was arrayed with what to cook for her customers. But there was one very important thing missing- water.
“I have been waiting for these water tankers since morning and they are not coming. One promised to come but never turned up. I don’t know what I will do with my customers when they come for lunch. Look, I had bought what to cook. I have everything, but I cannot cook,” she said, gasping for air.
“If I decide to buy that one for drinking, it will be too expensive. And I cannot buy it in barrel. So, I’m not sure what to do.”
Another businesswoman, who runs a bar along Munuki, had the same reservations. “Today I have not been supplied with water. My everyday supplier has not turned up. I think there is a problem,” she said.
This was the situation in most sections of Juba on Saturday, where various people raised concerns over limited to no supply of the important resource, with a majority of people suggesting that there was a possible go-slow by water tankers, the suppliers of the essential commodity, over the recent price regulations by the Juba City Council.
However, in an interview with Juba City Council, it said it was not aware of what the public suspected to be a strike from water tankers. The water tankers disappeared leaving residents in anguish, with a handful, opting for the black-market suppliers, selling the commodity at the outlawed SSP5000.
Various people across Juba streets had different reactions, with some blaming the water tankers for challenging the authorities and others accusing the City Council authorities for being harsh on their pricing without considering other underling factors such as fuel before reducing the price from 5000SSP to 2500SSP.
In an interview with The City Review, Alfred Soka Porfilio, press secretary at Juba City Council said the City Council is not aware of any strike by water tank drivers, but they have been observing the situation and noticed rare movement of the tank owners.
He said that Juba City Council will not bring down the prices recently issued, stating that the calculation was fair and not a burden for tank drivers.
Deng Awer, a resident from Referendum blamed the water tankers for going against the authorities. He however, noted the suffering people were going through without access to water, saying government ought to have dealt with the circumstance in a cautious way.
Awer expressed that the solution is in the hands of the authorities and as citizens, the option was to hold fingers and wait for government’s action.
Last month, parliament referred the issue of water pricing to the stakeholders without proposing a solution, after summoning the Minister of Water, the Governor of Central Equatoria State, the mayor of Juba and officials from Urban Water Corporation.
Central Equatoria State Governor Jadallah in his presentation told the August House that the state government is not responsible for the supply of water in the city.
He said that since the establishment of the Southern Urban Water Corporation in 2006, the national government took over the management of water and electricity from the state.
However, with the mounting challenges, the citizen needing water urgently, and the Juba City Council and water tankers seemingly having a push and pull, the citizens have been on the receiving end.
In a leading local radio, the recently appointed Juba Deputy Mayor, Thiik Thiik Mayardit, was quoted as saying he would intervene and have a conversation with the tank drivers to resolve the issue.
