By Muhereza Isaiah
People volunteering for village health teams (VHTs) in Kasusu Parish, Kabarole district, western Uganda say they are angry at being asked to return bicycles they received as part of an anti-malaria campaign in 2000.
VHT members were given the bicycles by the government 12 years ago. Recently, non governmental organisation Baylor-Uganda announced it would be giving more bicycles to the VHTs. As some VHT members have been complaining of heavy workloads the government has asked them to return their original bicycles so that more people can be recruited as VHTs in order to spread the burden or work. But many people are not happy, saying they thought the bicycles had been given to them as a sign of appreciation for their voluntary work.
A recent meeting turned chaotic and unruly when the Chairman LC III for South Division, Herbert Mugisa, asked VHT members to return the bicycles. Referring to their complaints of being overloaded with work he said: “Since you have been complaining that the workload is too much we want to recruit other village health team members and therefore you must return those bicycles you received for malaria.”
The chairman’s request was not welcomed by the team members who vowed not to return the bicycles.
“We are not returning these bicycles; we thought the government had given us those bicycles as an appreciation because we were not getting any pay. We need to be recognised for our efforts,” one member said.
Mugisa went ahead to explain that before getting the bicycles the members had signed a memorandum with the government saying the bicycles were the property of the government and the government may therefore choose to reclaim them. The team members rejected this, claiming they signed these agreements out of ignorance and had not properly understood what was stipulated in the contracts.
“We didn’t understand those agreements, we thought this was our property,” one member told the chairman.
Mugisa told the team members to go back home and re-read the agreements they had signed.
He left Robert Tumuhairwe, the chairman for the VHT meeting, to forward the matter to the council for further discussion. He said the council should consult a law enforcement officer if members refuse to return the bicycles.