Dr. Eng. Silver Mugisha, the NWSC Managing Director
The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has pleaded with Parliament to prevail over Government to meet its co-funding obligations for all its donor funded ongoing projects.
The plea was made by Dr. Eng. Silver Mugisha, the NWSC Managing Director while appearing before Parliament’s Natural Resources Committee, where he informed MPs that although the Corporation had requested for Shs143.689bn as cofounding for donor projects, the Government only allocated Shs76.576bn, leaving the Corporation to grapple with a funding gap of Shs97.113bn.
Mugisha told Parliament that if the funds aren’t availed, the Corporation is likely to incur losses through interest payment for these projects.
The revelation angered some MPs like Fred Kayondo (Mukono South) wondering the logic behind implementing budget cuts to the water sector, yet the same Government is encouraging people to wash hands so as to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
“If we are in the COVID pandemic and they say they are cutting the budget of water and in the Standard Operating Procedures, the most effective one is the washing of hands, we don’t wash hands with dust, we don’t wash hands with air, we wash hands with water,” Kayondo said, adding: “The Committee should condemn the budget cut of NWSC because they are saving lives because it is suicidal. I need to see the person who proposed budget cuts to NWSC.”
