KAMPALA – The High Court has ruled that Kabira Country Club Ltd is not indebted to National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) and as thus the Shs147,269,805 invoice issued in December 2017 was in error.
High Court Judge Musa Ssekaana ruled that there cannot be any indebtedness when no water was consumed by Kabira Country club, dismissing with costs, NWSC’s counter-claim for Shs147, 260,805.
NWSC had slapped a Shs147,260,805 bill on Kabira Country Club claiming that she has consumed 37,623 units of water between 2013 to 2017.
Kabira Country Club Limited the went to court disputing NWSC’s 2017 invoice, citing breach of contract, private nuisance and a declaration that the club is not indebted to the water body as well as general damages.
Court heard that in 2010, NWSC installed water meters on commercial premises of Kabira country club with different meters serving different sections of the same premises.
Records show that Meter SOCAM/96-723763 was specifically being used by Kampala International School which was occupying that part of the Kabira club premises and was used to settle bills for that meter until sometime in 2013 when the school ceased its operations and that NWSC was informed of the closure and the meter was no longer in use.
Court heard that in renovation exercise, Kabira Country Club demolished the buildings and facilities used by the school and the same were left excavated, vacant and physically disconnected from the system of NWSC.
“In 2017, the water pipe and valve of NWSC were damaged resulting in heavy leakage of water. The plaintiff (Kabira country Club) informed the defendant (NWSC) of the leakage which had resulted from the construction of road works in area by Kampala Capital city Authority (KCCA) but the defendant delayed to rectify the problem and the plaintiff’s plumbers made several attempts of addressing the problem which always failed,” reads the court documents.
According to the court judgment, NWSC’s staff repaired the water leakage later and took the meter in 2017 upon which they issued a bill of Shs147,260,805 as an outstanding bill of the said meter and started issuing invoices upon refusal to settle the contested bill the defendant disconnected Kabira Country club.
NWSC had contended that the said meter was being used for water consumption by Kabira Country Club but no invoice had been issued in respect of the said meter since 2013.
Justice Ssekaana said that Kabira Country Club never consumed any water on the meter and any demands or bill based on the same meter reading when it was removed for repairs after leakages is very erroneous and baseless.
“The circumstances of this case as presented in evidence show that the defendant’s claim is premised on assumptions and conjecture after they went on the plaintiff’s premises to carry out repairs and discovery of the meter is contrary to the existing state of affairs and the same is not supported by evidence,” Justice Ssekaana held.
Justice Ssekaana observed that NWSC did not challenge the evidence presented by Kabira Country club in regard to the notification, NWSC not issuing any bills over the period 2013 to 2017 and that the water meter gate valve was closed off so as to block the flow of water.
“The fact that the defendant never issued any bills on this meter prior to 2017 indicates that there was no water consumed on this water meter,” he added.
