Recently, the government terminated its contract with City Water Services Limited after the firm, with the responsibility of providing water in Dar es Salaam, failed to deliver. Do you think the government did the right thing?


YES. The government was right to take such a step. Privatisation is good and is aimed at improving services. It is based on adhering to the terms of contracts entered between the parties. But City Water breached a number of terms agreed upon, including failure to invest the amount of money by the end of the second year as agreed. If the firm was backed by a World Bank loan to undertake the project, why didn’t they invest? I think the firm has itself to blame for the termination of the contract.
Anastazia Mlewa – Housewife.

YES. I think the government was right to terminate the contract. I support the move because when City Water took over the project, it made a lot of good promises; one of them to end completely the water woes in the city. Although they put it clearly that it would take a considerable period of time to achieve their goals, things have moved from bad to worse. DAWASA was always blamed, but at least the work they did was tangible.
Abraham Kilolo – Engineer.

YES. The government took the right step at the right time. It should be well known that entities that are not qualified to take over firms under privatization should not be given the opportunities. I am of the opinion that City Water did not deliver deliberately because it depended on the protection of the contract. That is why they rushed to court. Failing to invest over 50 per cent of the agreed amount alone legalizes the government to terminate the contract.
Tertiano Eliah – Furniture Dealer.

NO. I think the government was not right to prematurely terminate the contract. City Water could have breached the contract but contracts are always binding. The government could end up paying a huge sum of money to City Water as compensation for terminating the contract prematurely. We have a good example of IPTL whereby the government is paying billions to the company. Deeper scrutiny could have been made before the decision.
Benson Mwendo – Paralegal.

Compiled by Timothy Kitundu.