With a new CEO set to take charge at WASA come November 1st, Public Services Association (PSA) President, Leroy Baptiste says this will not solve the many issues facing the authority.
WASA hired St Kitts national Keithroy Halliday as the new WASA CEO last week.
His appointment is part of WASA’s transformational process which began in 2022 and includes cutting 50 per cent of its managers.
However, Baptiste, in GML report, said leadership of WASA was never the issue.
He said:“WASA’s antiquated, ever-failing pipelines that subject customers to regular disruption in their service due to rupture; the lack of investment in additional storage/reservoirs to afford continuity of adequate service during the dry season; the underfunding of maintenance; the failure to meter its customers due to underfunding; and above all else, are the politically driven projects where WASA’s issues are subordinated to facilitate the whims and fancy of its political masters.”
“Needless to mention, there is a lack of correlation between the cost of producing water and the tariff charged. Now, if the coming on board of the new CEO resolves those issues, then we can expect improvements.
“If not, just like we have been going through police commissioner after police commissioner with no discernable change in dealing with crime and criminality, the same will be true for WASA. In other words, failure to deal with WASA’s systemic issues will result in the new CEO’s impotence. It will be a case that the more things change, the more they remain the same.”
Halliday replaces Kelvin Romain, who has been acting CEO for the past two years.