The Senate County Public Investment and Special Funds Committee heard testimony from Governor Andrew Mwadime regarding the financial operations of Tavevo Water and Sewerage Company Limited and the municipalities of Voi, Mwatate, and Taveta for the period ending June 30, 2025.
While municipalities faced queries on underfunding due to exchequer delays, the session took a sharp turn into the deep-seated management and ethical crises at Tavevo Water.
Tavevo’s “Material Uncertainty Related to Going Concern,” which showed a negative working capital of 532.7 million shillings, was the subject of a dire warning in the Auditor General’s report. With current liabilities of 1.08 billion shillings far outweighing current assets, the utility is technically insolvent.
Committee Chairperson Senator Godfrey Osotsi demanded an explanation for the opaque financial reporting. “You are operating a company that is effectively bankrupt, yet you failed to disclose the measures being taken to mitigate this condition in your financial notes,” Osotsi stated.
The heat intensified as Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma questioned the irregular utilization of customer deposits. “Tavevo is in breach of the law by failing to explain a thirty-two-million-shilling shortfall in customer deposits that should be held in trust, not used to mask operational deficits,” Mwaruma noted.
Ethics and governance dominated the discussion when Senator Raphael Chimera raised a blatant failure to declare a conflict of interest.
The audit revealed that two firms owned by the company secretary were providing legal services to the water company without any formal declaration. “This is a direct violation of the Constitution’s leadership and integrity requirements. How can the public trust a utility where the person meant to ensure legal compliance is the one benefiting from legal contracts?” Chimera asked.
The company also reported a staggering 50 percent Non-Revenue Water (NRW), losing 388 million shillings in potential sales. Governor Mwadime, in his management response, admitted to the gravity of the situation.
“We have established a dedicated NRW coordination unit and are engaging professional debt collectors,” the governor responded. He further committed to enforcing conflict of interest policies and solarising pump houses to cut high electricity costs, contributing to the insolvency.
