THE EDITOR: I write to express serious concern regarding the decision by the United National Congress (UNC) to discard the previous government’s transformation plan for the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), and instead revert to the antiquated system that has long proven ineffective.
WASA has been plagued for decades by inefficiency, bloated staffing, poor service delivery, and systemic corruption. This is no secret. The PNM’s reform plan, while ambitious, was a necessary step toward overhauling a broken institution and delivering reliable, modern water services to the people of TT.
It emphasised transparency, accountability, technology-driven solutions, and a sustainable model to ensure the long-term viability of the authority. And, yes, it cost money; no exercise of such magnitude could be conducted for free.
WASA’s new executive management structure was installed last December 1. And WASA would obviously have to pay more to attract the quality of leadership talent required to effect change. The next phase of the transformation would have been a 50 per cent reduction in the size of the wider management structure. That’s where the authority would have started to realise savings.
The UNC’s move to abandon this plan – seemingly to curry favour with labour unions – is not only politically short-sighted, but deeply irresponsible. Reverting to the outdated model will do nothing to improve water distribution, reduce leaks and waste, or modernise infrastructure. Instead, it will entrench the very issues the population has suffered under for years.
Reform is never easy, and vested interests often resist change. However, leadership requires the courage to do what is right, not what is expedient. By discarding a forward-looking plan in favour of appeasing powerful groups, the UNC is prioritising political gain over national development.
The citizens of this country deserve better. We deserve a WASA that works – one that delivers clean, reliable water to every home and community. We cannot afford to keep pouring resources into a failed system that has already proven incapable of reforming itself without decisive action.
Let us not turn back the clock. Let us move boldly into the future with the political will to fix what is broken – not preserve it for the sake of convenience.
Can we keep our water the way it should be – colourless and odourless?
STEPHEN GEORGE
via e-mail
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