Dr. Eng Silver Mugisha, the Managing Director at National Water and Sewerage Corporation has called for utilities to adopt co-creation and tailor-made innovation approaches to tackle water challenges, cautioning against relying on imported solutions that may not address local needs.
Speaking at UK pavilion, a side of event of the highly attended IWA conference in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Mugisha, who received an award for outstanding contributions to the water sector at the global stage, cautioned against blindly adopting foreign technologies, instead advocating for joint technology development to address local challenges like meter inefficiencies.
He noted that solutions from other contexts, such as the UK, may not work in Uganda, but partnerships can facilitate the sharing of solutions to common challenges.
He said the co-creation approach addresses infrastructure gaps and emphasized the importance of local expertise, flexibility, and partnerships.
“This approach recognizes the importance of local expertise and knowledge in developing effective solutions,” he said. Dr. Mugisha emphasized the need for collaboration and flexibility in achieving NWSC’s goals, saying “We don’t lack money, but we need partners who are willing to work with us to develop solutions that meet our needs.”
He urged governments to pay their bills and obligations, highlighting the importance of efficiency and benchmarking to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) for effective efficiency gains.
Dr. Mugisha also stressed the need for utilities to capacitate their youthful staff, who are the leaders of tomorrow, and to have a shared vision and continuity of the water sector.
He emphasized the importance of partnering with flexible financiers and leveraging money markets to finance local operations.
Dr. Mugisha discussed the demerits and merits of privatization, highlighting the need for utilities to have a purpose and a shared vision.
He also discussed opportunities for youth mentorship under the Young Water Professionals (YWP) program and urged youth knowledge exchange programs to foster knowledge sharing.
Dr. Eng. Mugisha took over as Managing Director of NWSC in 2013, shifting its focus from profits to service delivery. Under his leadership, NWSC has registered tremendous progress in service delivery, expanding coverage to over 270 towns, serving 18 million people, and increasing customer connections to 874,129.
Dr. Mugisha attributes NWSC’s success to strategic clarity and focus, unfettered government support, a robust corporate governance system, leadership that espouses true love, and institutionalizing a public interest mindset.
He aims to expand services to 300 towns, serve 25 million people, and achieve an annual turnover of Shs650 billion by 2026.
Key milestones under Dr. Mugisha’s leadership include expanding coverage from 23 to 268 towns, increasing customer connections from 296,206 to 874,129, growing annual turnover from Shs 155 billion to Shs 19 billion, and increasing assets under management from Shs 650 billion to Shs 4,100 billion.
Dr. Mugisha’s vision and leadership have transformed NWSC into a model for public enterprises, prioritizing service delivery and public interest.
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