Thirsty promises

• We’ve waited a lifetime for safe water-Communities
• Equal access requires investment-Kumwenda.
• Topography challenges delay water solutions-MP

In the remote village of Chikho under Senior Chief Kandodo II in the area of Traditional Authority Kasakula in Ntchisi District, the quest for water has been a struggle in determining the rhythm of life for hundreds of women and families.

Here, the nearest and only water source, shared among seven villages, requires an exhausting walk through steep slopes for over a kilometer each way, and even upon arrival, women scramble to get water, which is unsafe.

Water as a daily battle

Lida Bataniya, the village head for Chikho, has lived through decades of this hardship. Her story sheds light on the country’s ongoing challenges in achieving universal access to safe water, a fundamental right still unattainable for millions across rural Malawi.

At 60, Bataniya had never known a time when water was easy to access in Chikho Village. Every day, she joins dozens of other women in a desperate scramble at the village’s only water source, an unprotected spring that has served as their lifeline for generations.

The lack of safe water infrastructure forces her to wake before dawn, navigate the steep and treacherous paths to the spring, then fight for her share of water, a fight she and other women depicted in a dramatic play during Capital FM’s visit to the area, a fight she explained, that is not symbolic but real.

“This is not just a play; it is how we scramble to get water from this source. People fight to get water. What you have witnessed in that play is our everyday experience. The fighting is there because this source serves seven villages and everyone wants to get water and go home to take care of other household chores. So, it is about ‘let me be the first’ that leads to fights,” Bataniya explained.

She added; “I grew up with this problem, and here I am still facing it after sixty years. Residents in the village taste borehole water only when they travel to other places. We are very unlucky and it feels like we are not even citizens of this country. The day we will have a borehole is when we will feel like Malawians, otherwise, now, we are not.”

Bataniya’s distress is palpable as she laments that her community has been forgotten by officials, even politicians who she said have been consistent with one thing, promising clean water and failing to deliver.

“We have been knocking at the District Commissioner’s office, but all we get are promises. It is the same with politicians, during the campaign they make promises but once voted into office they do not fulfill their promises. All Members of Parliament (MPs) for this constituency (Ntchisi East), have been making promises but nothing has been done,” Bataniya said.

The impact on families

Rebecca Kabango, 45, another resident from Chikho Village, echoed Bataniya’s frustration. As a mother, she worries about the health of her children, who are frequently plagued by diarrheal diseases and are often late to school after waiting for water to be fetched so they can wash before they go.

“Water is life, but here it is also a danger. For a household to follow proper sanitation and hygiene standards, we need clean and safe water, which we don’t have. Because of the untreated water that we use, my children fall sick regularly, this is no way to live. Our children deserve better and we all do,” Kabango lamented.

“I would have loved for the government or other stakeholders to assist us by bringing us a safe water point with easy access, at least in the vicinity of the village where we can easily access the water. Doing so will make us feel that we are Malawians because as of now we don’t feel that way, we have long been neglected,” she said.

Senior Chief Kandodo II pointed to the difficulty women face in balancing fetching water with other essential activities from childcare to farming. He described the daunting task of collecting water, a reason that is keeping the community trapped in a cycle of poverty as it sidelines women from other economic activities.

“The experience of getting water takes a toll on the women as they spend more time trying to collect water and this also affects other activities like farming. Only men are involved in farming and other economic activities as women spend all their time trying to get water and they get exhausted in the process,” Senior Kandodo II said.

As lamented by Bataniya and Kabango, Senior Kandodo II added his frustration to the empty promises they have been getting from duty bearers each time they have raised their need to be provided with safe and clean water infrastructure.

“We have been pleading with duty bearers but nothing is happening. Your coming is very important, maybe you can help ensure that our cry for help reaches authorities so they can help us because there is no sanitation without water, water is life,” he said.

The incumbent Member of Parliament for the area Bernard Chitekwe blames the topography of the area for his failure to provide safe water infrastructure in the area.

He explains; “In the very first place, let me make it clear that our area is having very big challenges in terms of topography. Having gotten news of challenges on access to safe water, I liaised with ADC members, the Councillor, and all other people around Senior Kandodo II, and with assistance from the District Council, we agreed to provide a borehole within the area.”

“There was a time when a contractor was sent to the area but unfortunately, the contractor failed to get water after drilling two separate places. So, this has been a challenge since the onset of my tenure of office,” Chitekwe says.

However, good or bad topography, people from Chikho deserve safe and clean water as the government is obliged to provide universal access to clean water for all regardless of the location.

Frank Kaphaso, Health Promotion and Public Relations Officer for Ntchisi District said the grim reality is that persistent use of unsafe water from unprotected water sources not only shared but also domestic animals puts the lives of people in the area at risk.

“This place is open to contamination. Some people might come with their livestock while others may relieve themselves from the bushes around the area, and that means contaminating this place. So, these people are at risk of developing water-borne-related diseases like Cholera, diarrhea, and others,” Kaphaso said.

Kaphaso however said that as the district health office, they are implementing various interventions to minimize the risks people from the area are facing in the absence of safe water sources.

“We have our preventive interventions that include household water treatment with Chlorine and we also emphasize that the water that is coming from here, after being treated, they should properly use it, use pit latrines and other things that contribute to good sanitation and hygiene in their homes,” Kaphaso said.

The promise of change

As the saying goes, ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel,’ a glimmer of hope is finally on the horizon in Chikho village as WaterAid has committed to drilling a borehole in the area, which is part of a larger investment aimed at providing sustainable water and sanitation solutions.

WaterAid Program Officer, Laston Zungu explains that this initiative is not only about drilling a borehole but also about cultivating a future of cleaner, healthier water, to ensure that communities stop relying on unsafe sources, reducing waterborne diseases, and improving their overall quality of life.

“This is one of the villages that WaterAid is planning to support with water supply infrastructure. After visiting the village and where they get water, we decided that we should support the village with water by drilling a borehole,” Zungu said.

He added; “As we speak, procurement processes are at an advanced stage, we are engaging a contractor who is going to be coming to this side to drill a borehole. If all goes well, by the end of this month, November, we should have the contractor on site.”

“What we expect to see is that community members should stop getting water from this unsafe source and this is going to help in doing away with water-related diseases such as diarrhea, Cholera, and the like. Also, through the project, we have a behavior change campaign, which is also going to target how people can change their behaviors towards helping them to adopt better hygiene practices,” Zungu said.

National call for action

While in Chikho, a promise of a borehole may soon be fulfilled, urgent action is needed as the struggles from this village are not isolated; they are a microcosm of water access issues in Malawi.

An estimated 30 percent of Malawians, which is about seven million people, lack basic drinking water, with a significant portion of those relying on contaminated sources, according to a WHO, UNICEF Joint Monitoring Report.

Despite recent progress, access to clean and reliable water sources remains uneven, and this disproportionally affects rural, hard-to-reach areas where traditional water infrastructure, such as boreholes, is often absent or inadequate.

Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) expert Save Kumwenda advocates for increased investments and equal distribution, so that every area and household has access to safe water sources regardless of the location.

“One of the issues is that there are some areas, which are reporting high access to safe water and there are some that do not have meaning that the water sources are concentrated in one area. So, what is supposed to happen to ensure equal distribution, so we can achieve the universal coverage of portable water,” Kumwenda said.

“So, it is very important that stakeholders consider making sure that every area and household has access to safe water sources. If we don’t do that, the country will continue experiencing waterborne diseases as once rains come, they wash away fecal matter in the push to water bodies leading to those using unprotected sources getting contaminated water,” he said.

Spokesperson in the Ministry of Water and Sanitation James Kumwenda admits that limited resources and other multifaceted challenges have kept the government from expanding water coverage in many rural regions.

“Firstly, is the issue of resources. As a Ministry, we have our investment strategy and we know which areas need to be invested in. But the resources we get do not meet the need. So, there is a gap between the needs and the resources to help us expand the water supply systems and increase coverage to all population,” Kumwenda said.

He added; “The other setback is the vandalism of water supply infrastructure and extreme weather conditions. People continue vandalizing our infrastructure and you and I know that in the past four years, we have experienced cyclones and floods and our infrastructure was heavily affected.”

Kumwenda however, reiterated the Ministry’s commitment to expanding water systems to meet the target of universal access to safe drinking water for all.

He said; “The first thing that people need to realize is that the government considers issues of water supply and sanitation critical that is why we are currently talking of a standalone ministry of water and sanitation to ensure that issues to do with access to portable water and sanitation, and good hygiene practices are given necessary priority.”

“From the Ministry’s perspective, we are undertaking several interventions to do with access to portable water. This is done in collaboration with all our donors, NGOs, and private institutions so that at the end of it all, we ensure that Malawians have access to safely managed water and as a country, our aspirations are that we have universal access to water to all,” Kumwenda said.

The Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 6, call for universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. For Malawi, meeting this goal requires a multi-pronged approach, that is addressing immediate water shortages, educating communities on safe hygiene practices, and investing in sustainable infrastructure.

For communities still relying on unsafe water, clean water is not merely a convenience but a matter of survival, a foundation for health, economic empowerment, and dignity. Their concerns are immediate and simple: safe reliable water that enables health and dignity.

This calls for all stakeholders; state and non-state actors to prioritize and act on the promise of clean water for all. As Malawi strives to meet SDG goals on water, the water crisis in Chikho and beyond must serve as both a call to action and a measure of progress.

Only then, Malawi will ensure that all its citizens, regardless of location, experience the basic human right to safe and accessible water.

About The Author