The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

SYLVANNUS Petty, chairman of the Water & Sewerage Corporation, said there will not be any widespread disconnection of water supply to customers who are behind on their bills this week, adding that “political mischief” prompted WSC’s recent announcement that it would occur.

WSC said in a recent Facebook notice that disconnections would resume on November 15. The government suspended disconnections in 2020 to help people cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alfred Sears, Minister of Works and Utilities, has said he was not informed of the WSC’s policy decision before the notice was released. He said he would take the matter to Cabinet.

He declined to discuss the issue yesterday. However, Mr Petty told reporters mass disconnections will not resume.

“But moving forward,” Mr Petty said, “we do encourage people to pay their bills. It’s been surprising that we have a lot of people still paying their bills even though it’s been a slow period for Bahamians.”

He declined to elaborate on his claim that political mischief was behind the WSC’s notice.

“Like I said, you can doctor any document, and that’s been happening, so moving forward there is no mass disconnections,” he said.

Asked if someone has been held accountable for the policy decision and notice release, he said: “We’re still investigating it and don’t want to spend too much time on that right now because we’re here to do the people’s work and that’s just a distraction.”

He declined to say how much money the corporation is owed. In June, then-WSC Executive Chairman Adrian Gibson said the corporation sustained a nearly $14 million shortfall in payments since the directive to cease disconnections was implemented. In March he said the corporation suffered a “monumental” 30 percent revenue loss in 2020 compared with 2019.