Malawi is above its neighbours when it comes to citizen’s accessibility to water, but scores poorly in hygiene and sanitation, a new report has shown.

An economist has since blamed the poor ranking on hygiene and sanitation on misuse of resources allocated to these sectors.

In a report which the Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) in collaboration with Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources lecturer Henry Kankwamba issued recently, Malawi’s water accessibility rate is at 68 percent; Zimbabwe ranks second at 65 percent, while third placed Zambia is at 60 percent, Tanzania is at 57 percent and Mozambique anchors the table at 55 percent.

In an interview on Wednesday, Kankwamba said Malawi should not be celebrating that her people have better access to water as much of the country’s water is not potable.

Boreholes such as this are a common source of water in rural areas

Csat sanctioned the assessment in response to growing complaints of poor water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) services channelled through its free toll line 3056. 

The report titled Financial Investment in the Water Sector, puts Zimbabwe on first at 37 percent followed by Mozambique (29 percent), Malawi and Zambia are tied on third with 28 percent while Tanzania, at four percent, ranks the lowest.

In the sanitation area, Malawi with nine percent is the worst, Zambia is second worst at 14 percent, Zimbabwe is at 25 percent while Tanzania, at 48 percent, is the best.

Kankwamba, an expert in agricultural and applied economics, observed that while many Malawians have access to water, much of it is not safe for consumption as it is contaminated with sewer and other toxic chemicals that result in diseases such as diarrhoea and cancer.

He said: “This is where we are getting the poor sanitation ranking in the region.”

The lecturer warned that if the country does not restructure its water infrastructure, it will continue to spend more on treatment while children are stunted due to poor health.

He said: “We need to seriously look at improving the infrastructure. We have cases in our cities where residents experience dry taps for over three days and nobody cares.

“Around a million people suffer from waterborne illnesses annually and that is a lot of money when you consider the price of antibiotics used to treat them. This is why we need to focus on prevention.”

Kankwamba says poor sanitation has also been worsened by poor waste management.

The report states that the major Wash victims are children.

Reads the report in part: “Ninety percent of people dying from diarrhoeal diseases are under five years old…48 to 53 percent of children under the age of five are stunted because of poor water.”

Malawi’s Wash is among sectors that are well-funded. According to the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) Board of Malawi, NGOs in the Wash sector reported an annual income and expenditure of K118 billion and K138 billion respectively in 2020.

“Out of those NGOs, 20 percent reported the amount invested in the sector which was K2.2 billion,” said the board’s acting director of economics and monitoring services Patrick Mwale in an interview.  

But Kankwamba said despite substantial Wash funding, little was being invested in promoting water and sanitation services in communities.

He said: “A good amount is spent on meetings and administrative things. Sometimes you see 20 vehicles travelling to some community to open a borehole. That is a waste. If we are to improve, we must ensure that much of those funds trickle down to infrastructure development.”

On his part, Csat executive director Willy Kambwandira said the toll-free line, which they sanctioned, has helped to expose Wash challenges in communities.

He said: “A majority of the complaints are bordering on lack of access to clean and potable water, substandard water infrastructure projects, poor quality water and lack of coordination among players in the water sector.

“Others are that NGOs and some members of Parliament are drilling boreholes without following guidelines and without consulting relevant authorities. Such conduct puts lives of consumers at risk.”

Kambwandira added that through the study, they established that central government was monopolising funding in the water sector.

Said the executive director: “We have noted that government and NGOs are injecting a lot of resources into the water sector, but the resources are not trickling down to local communities.

“In addition, in terms of allocation, the central government has not devolved its water allocation. It continues to monopolise the water allocation at the expense of local councils, where the complaints are coming from.”

Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources deputy director of forestry and planning Ben Wengawenga argued that government funding towards the water sector trickles down to the local government.

“Even though the funds reflect at central level, much of it go towards projects by the water boards,” he said.

Wengawenga admitted that ensuring that the whole country has access to potable water is a tough mission that needs rigorous funding.

He said: “To defeat the Covid-19 pandemic and cholera during the rainy season, we need clean water. We would like to get as much funding as possible so we can improve provision of safe water in the country.

“Our appeal is that we should join hands and make resources available so the communities can have access to clean water.”

To tackle poor water quality challenges in both urban and rural areas, water and sanitation specialist Elias Chimlambe called for the reforms in the sector.

He explained: “We need reforms at water boards.  We need capacity [human resources, equipment, technical issues] review in all these water boards.

“We need to review the functions and roles of all institutions that support water quality control such as the central laboratory, Malawi Bureau of Standards and the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation Services.”

A 2019 study by the Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation at Mzuzu University revealed high toxic content in Mzuzu City groundwater due to lapses in waste management.

It recommended the need to prevent further release of toxins into water sources from disposal sites.

Last month, the National Statistical Office launched the fourth Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, which also found challenges in access to clean water, with 60 percent of the country’s water sources being contaminated and 93 percent of the country’s households drinking contaminated water.

The World Health Organisation suggests that improving access to improved water, sanitation and hygiene would save 20 000 lives per year and eliminate 25 million episodes of illness. Sustainable Development Goals targets 6.1 and 6.2 aims for universal and equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2030.

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