“This was after moving from water kiosk to kiosk and house to house in search for water within the neighbourhood because all the taps were dry. Lucky enough I managed to fill my bucket with water at Area 13 Market which is over 5 Km from where I live,” said 36-year-old Sellina Kayembe from Chilinde Township in Malawi’s Capital, Lilongwe while balancing the bucket on her head.

Kayembe, a mother of 7 disclosed that she had to spend over five hours standing on a long line with other women to get her bucket filled with water.

“I had even to pay K100 to get my bucket filled,” she said adding that the water was not adequate for her family’s needs.

“It will not be enough for cooking, washing kitchen utensils and washing hands before preparing and eating meals because we are 9 people in my family,” said Kayembe looking worried.

However, she was lucky to at least get some tap water since many residents were getting the commodity from unsafe sources at risk of contracting waterborne diseases such as cholera.

The development followed after Lilongwe taps turned dry following Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) staff embarking on a strike after government decided not to implement the state controlled water supplying company workers’ demand for a 30 percent salary hike.

To show their anger the LWB staff even refused to meet Malawi’s Minister responsible for Labour Eunice Makangala who had driven to their premises to hold talks with them on the matter.

The workers have lived up to their earlier warning of going on strike if their salaries were not increased by 30 percent as endorsed by LWB management on July 19 this year.

Makangala went to find a solution to the LWB strike as she personally tried to call Malawi Congress of Trade Union (MCTU) leaders to come and intervene in the fresh stand-off.

All LWB staff workers except consultants have joined the strike, crippling water delivery services in the whole city that has over one million residents.

Makangala drove into LWB premises at around 10 a.m. and without delay met the establishment’s management that briefed her on the bone of contention, but when she sought an audience with leaders of the LWB union, they refused to come forth, arguing that there was nothing to discuss as the matter was clear.

LWB Workers Union president Ipyana Kalolokesya said the strike was not against their management but rather against Malawi Government authorities.

“The board approved what we had asked for but government came to recommend a 5 percent increment. We are only going back to work if they put it in writing that we will get the 30 percent pay rise," charged Kalolokesya.

According to the LWB Workers Union president, the last two devaluations of Malawi’s local currency (kwacha) by 10 and 49 percent respectively followed by electricity and water tariff hikes and other commodity price increases have necessitated the demand for the pay hike.

"This is not a problem. The 30 percent salary increment was already embedded in the budget. They simply have to effect this,” said Kalolokesya disclosing that even the take home for LWB workers financiers and government were in the budget.

“This is a straight forward matter. What we are asking is why government is intervening in matters the board had already resolved?" queried Kalolokesya.

In his briefing to the Labour Minister, LWB General Manager Gabriel Gonani explained the background to the whole misunderstanding with support from his senior board officials.

LWB staff and the Water Employees Trade Union issued a statement in advance informing consumers that the workers would be going on strike at the expiry of 21 days if their demands were not met.

The LWB workers assured Lilongwe residents that water supply would not be interrupted. But others tipped Africanews.com that that is not guaranteed any more.


On her part Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi (NMCM) Executive Director Martha Mondiwa said it would have been better for LWB staff to use other ways in expressing their dissatisfaction over their salaries increment than effecting water supply disconnections in Lilongwe city.

“By disconnecting water supply the Lilongwe Water Board staff are punishing innocent people and even violating their rights,” she said.

Mondiwa further explained that the water supply disconnection was putting lives of patients, guardians including health workers at risk of getting infected by a disease outbreak.

“As I am talking following the Lilongwe Water Board water supply disconnection hospital taps have also run dry. The development puts lives in the wards including Maternity Wards at risks of disease outbreaks that could endanger lives of people in hospitals,” she said.

National Coordinator for Water and Environmental Sanitation Network (WESN) in Malawi Ngabaghila Chatata also expressed her worries over the LWB staff strike saying it was putting lives of innocent people in danger of a disease outbreak.

“While we are very much aware of their right to demonstrate, as WES Network while retaining a neutral position, our interests are on the rights of the consumer,” she said.

Chatata further prayed that the two disagreeing parties would resolve their matters concerned soon and that water supply would be restored to enable consumers access the precious commodity in Lilongwe city.

“We would like to avoid the situation where things go off hand and we start experiencing outbreak of cholera due to insufficient water supplies,” said Chatata.

Before the drying of Lilongwe taps following the on-going strike residents have already been struggling to access safe water from LWB supply system.

The problem was according to LWB Public Relations Officer Trevor Phoya due to among other things, acts of vandalism on LWB infrastructures, faults at its pumping stations as well as routine power cuts by the state controlled power supplier Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM).

Nationally, although Malawi Government’s own statistics currently boasts that over 80 per 100 people in the 13 million plus population are accessing safe water, however, evidence remain rife that many Malawians continue to struggle to access the commodity.

With support from Scottish Government and the London based Environmental issues wing, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) one of Malawi’s few Urban Development Specialists Mtafu A. Zeleza Manda also Director of Alma Consultancy, a private planning and environmental management practice in a research across the country exposed how Malawians struggle to access safe water.

“Most households in the nine settlements studied had very low incomes: 54 percent earned between K10, 000 and K35, 000 (US$71–248) per month. Thus, a large proportion of households earned less than US$1 per person per day. A further 28 percent of households earned below K10, 000 per month, so, for a family of five, this represents less than US$0.5 per person per day,” said Manda.

The researcher also disclosed that the survey also found that 37 percent of households had six or more members while 18 percent had five members.


On water access according to Manda within the nine settlements studied, provision for water was dominated by water kiosks.

“Of households surveyed, 53 percent purchased water from kiosks while 26 percent had individual water connections and 13 percent bought water from another house plot,” he said adding that water consumption levels varied considerably.

“Some families bought just one pail of water a week from kiosks, getting the rest of their water from other (unprotected) sources such as shallow wells and rivers for washing clothes and bathing. Kiosk attendants reported that, on some days, water sales were so low as to represent no more than one pail per household served by the kiosk,” said Manda.

He further said that for most households, the limited use of water purchased from kiosks was related to the cost, not the access saying the recommended cost for water sold at kiosks was at the time of study K1 to K1.50 for a 20-litre pail, but it was often sold at K2 to help kiosk attendants balance the books (the attendants have to pay for any water that is unaccounted for).

“Some kiosks charge considerably more than this (up to K5 or even K10 per pail). The urban poor in Malawi are paying prices equivalent to a far higher proportion of their income on water than is the norm in high-income nations,” said Manda.

Chatata appealed to authorities not to relax based on the strides Malawi might have achieved in safe water delivery instead implement more measures aimed at increasing the number of people on safe water access.

“Access to safe water is a human right as it underpins human development thus enabling people to overcome poverty. However, many Malawians just like other people in poor developing countries on the globe are struggling to enjoy such a right due to poverty, marginalisation, and social exclusion inextricably linked,” she said.