News stories
News items on corruption issues and measures to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in the water sector from IRC's newsletter Source Weekly.
Mozambique: former water officials arrested for corruption
06 Nov 12
Mozambique’s anti-corruption agency GCCC has arrested the former director and financial administrator of the central regional office of the government’s Water Supply Investments and Assets Fund (FIPAG). José Duarte and Henriques Leonardo were expelled from FIPAG in mid-2011, but it apparently took over a year to compile the case against them.
Kenya: Minister admits corruption is rampant in public water institutions
26 Oct 10
Water Minister Charity Ngilu has admitted in Parliament that corruption was rampant in public water institutions. Contributing factors included a weak Water Act 2002, violent water cartels, illegal water tapping, and mismanagement.
Mobile technology: cell phones, Google Apps help bring basic sanitation and more transparency in Kenya
08 Sep 10
Nuru International, a US-based NGO is using some free Google platforms and Nokia phones to increase sanitation in Kuria, Kenya.
Indonesia, Jakarta: struggling to provide clean water to all
27 Aug 10
The city of Jakarta, with a population of nine million people, is struggling to provide clean water to all its residents. In some poor neighbourhoods international organisations like Mercy Corps and its Communal Master Meter project (small community-managed piped water system), are trying to help. However, their impact is minimal because the infrastructure problems are so complex and expensive to fix.
India, Pakistan: dealing with the “water mafia”
22 Jun 10
Corruption in water tanker supply is a common problem in both New Delhi in India and Karachi in Pakistan. Only New Delhi appears to have found a way to deal with it.
Arab states: be open on water scarcity, UN asks
14 Apr 10
People in the Arab world need fuller and freer information about shrinking water supplies but their governments are withholding it for fear of fueling unrest, a United Nations expert said on Thursday, 1 April 2010
Tanzania: water and sewerage authority ranks high in corruption “list of shame”
20 Jan 10
The Tanzanian water and sewerage authority ranks fifth in the corruption ‘List of Shame” published by the regional NGO Concern for Development Initiatives in Africa (ForDIA).
Afghanistan, Badakhshan: enclave seen as model for development
18 Dec 09
A recent New York Times article tells the story of how direct grants to a village council in Jurm, Badakshan province, have reduced corruption and helped the community set up and manage their own water system and to introduce education for girls.
International anti-corruption day 2009
14 Dec 09
9 December is international anti-corruption day. To highlight the anti-corruption day 2009, Teun Bastemeijer from WIN (Water Integrity Network) and Jon Lane from WSSCC (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council) collaborated for a special interview that addresses the issue of corruption in sanitation, how it can affect everyday life for ordinary people and why corruption in the water sector must be emphasized.
Kenya: water ministry has lost millions
11 Nov 09
The Water ministry may have lost millions of shillings through unexplained payments to water drilling contractors. The ministry is hard put to explain the debts, which now exceed US$ 13 million and is suspected to have been lost at the National Water and Pipeline Corporation.
