Dimensions of African Statehood: Everyday Governance and Provision of Public Goods by Randi Solhjell

Author:Randi Solhjell [Solhjell, Randi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: African, National, Public Affairs & Administration, Political Science, World, American Government
ISBN: 9780429870965
Google: M5WnDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 56461166
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-08-06T08:13:20+00:00

Based on this interview, it seemed that the private company–provider relation with Pharmakina was far more important to maintain for REGIDESO and SNEL than the private households without the same revenue potentials or ties to central management. Shamavu’s insistence that their usage of water (and electricity) did not affect the public’s access to tap water in Bukavu, seems dubious since the only captivated water source serving Bukavu is served by REGIDESO, namely the Kahele water station. In other words, the separate, private pipeline for their activities was surely exhausting the same captivated source that was meant to serve the public lines. This demonstrates relational networks of private connections with “public” service providers, which lead to conflict and mistrust among groups of citizens claiming rights vis-à-vis service providers.

For private citizens in Ibanda, the realities of obtaining tap water were different than for the private client level. In the focus group discussion with men who live in Ibanda, irregularities in accessing tap water in private homes revealed differences between owning and renting. In Bukavu, home ownership seems exceptional and most citizens in Ibanda rely on renting.23 Relations with water suppliers for those renting a home with installed tap water arose as a topic in the focus group. I asked the male focus group what would happen if they were to refuse to pay a bill on the grounds that their water service was not regularly available in their home. The men discussed the fallibility of manually measured systems. It meant usually that individuals would have to negotiate with REGIDESO technicians that came to measure their consumption. These relations illustrate what Shamavu (from Pharmakina) explained above, namely, that there is a long hierarchy in public services (“money disappears in the long process”). For individuals without direct connections to the leadership of REGIDESO, these lower-level negotiations were not usually settling problems of tap water supply. Thus, even though this group consists of men in Ibanda who could afford to pay bills, they described their position as “weak” in relation to the service provider, were not guaranteed a constant supply of water to their private tap. As one of the men responded:24

I am in a weak position. I rent the house and my landlord will tell me that I am only renting the house. I cannot refuse to pay for water and electricity because then they will cut the lines and pipes and it costs even more to get them reinstalled. When I complain to REGIDESO, they don’t do anything. Sometimes there might be water during the night, but only for a few minutes. My wife, my kids and I we all wake up to try to get some water. But by the time we are by the taps, the water has already stopped flowing. If the meters were regulated by computers there would be no problems, but now they do everything mechanically and they have no clue about how much water is flowing in the channels.

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