Former JXN Water employee, critic now deputy Public Works director for Jackson

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) — An outspoken critic and former employee of JXN Water is now a deputy director of Jackson’s Public Works Department.

Documents reviewed by WLBT show that Tariq Abdul-Tawwab was named deputy director over administration for the department back in March.

The position comes with a salary of just under $70,000 a year. It’s unclear if the deputy position is protected by civil service.

Abdul-Tawwab was previously the chief experience officer for JXN Water but left the position in 2023.

Since then, he has been an outspoken critic of the utility, even writing a column in the Mississippi Free Press last month about the need to monitor JXN Water “through clear milestones” to ensure Jackson maintains control of its water system.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, also an outspoken critic of JXN Water and Interim Third-Party Manager Ted Henifin, says Abdul-Tawwab’s opinions do not bar him from employment with the city, nor should they.

“Every city employee is entitled to have [their] own political beliefs and thoughts. That would be no different for Mr. Abdul-Tawwab as it is for any city employee sitting before me,” he said at his Monday afternoon press conference. “It is neither something that renders someone a position nor restricts them from a position to have outspoken beliefs.”

Abdul-Tawwab, a former Verizon call center manager, joined JXN Water as chief experience officer in late 2022 or early 2023. He helped round out Henifin’s initial leadership team, which also included former interim Public Works Director Jordan Hillman.

According to court documents, during his time with JXN Water, Abdul-Tawwab earned $46,153.86 in salary. He also received $118,224.68 in “other earnings,” Henifin’s June 30, 2023, quarterly status report states.

Abdul-Tawwab left the organization several months before that. According to a March 2023 article in Mississippi Today, several community groups protested the “wrongful” firing of Tawwab.

Those protesting included officials with the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign and the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition — two groups with ties to the mayor’s sister.

According to her campaign webpage, Rukia Lumumba is a legal advisor for the Poor People’s Campaign and co-founder of the Rapid Response Coalition.

The same groups also spoke out against Henifin before U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate that same year, citing Henifin’s lack of transparency.

Henifin has said little about Abdul-Tawwab, only telling the Associated Press in 2023 that “it just didn’t work out.”

Meanwhile, Abdul-Tawwab’s wife, Candace Abdul-Tawwab, is a director for the People’s Advocacy Institute, another nonprofit founded by Rukia Lumumba, while Tariq Abdul-Tawwab is the director of PAI’s help center, according to the Mississippi Free Press.

We reached out to Jackson’s Director of Communications, Melissa Faith Payne, to get in contact with Abdul-Tawwab. She did not have a phone number but emailed him asking to call us.

A phone number WLBT had for Abdul-Tawwab was no longer in service.

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