Speaking at a follow-up working group meeting on packaged water industry at SLEWRC’s Berwick Street office, the DG explained that the press release that the commission gave out to local newspapers to disseminate was based on the information obtained from the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB).

He explained that the said water company initially fell under the unsatisfactory category, adding that when the Bureau sent the second list of those that have met satisfactory standards to the commission Evsumo was not on the list hence it was logical to assume that the company again failed to meet the required minimum standards set by the Bureau, that was why the company’s name was not on the satisfactory list.

However, to address this registration and verification jumble, the working group has decided that a tripartite approach would be used in the registration and verification process of water companies before licenses’ are issued. “The health ministry will first verify prospective water companies, they would then be certified by the Standards Bureau before coming for registration at the commission,” he noted.