Elisa Mutebi a former Local Council Chairperson of Ssumbwe Village, Ssumbwe Parish in Wakiso District, with a maize garden of about three acres mixed with a matooke plantation has been pinned for using government mosquito nets that were to be given out to residents to fight malaria for fencing his gardens.
According to Rashid Mwebesa, a resident of Ssumbwe, the former chairperson distributed a few mosquito nets and kept the rest for himself to fence his gardens.
“Mutebi’s maize garden is fenced off with mosquito nets, and I wonder why it is so, since as a leader he should not have done such a thing that fails government projects but also puts his village in danger of catching malaria,” Mwebesa said.
He further revealed that Mutebi had contested in the last LCI elections of 2018 but lost to Charles Kabanda. Mutebi however, refused the outcome and declined to handover the instruments of power irrespective of him not being gazated by the Electoral Commission.
“Mutebi was running a parallel village office, LCI chairpersons are custodians of stamps and all village records, the business of running two offices was confusing us, good enough it has been sorted by the courts of law now Kabanda is the official chairperson,” said Mwebesa.
The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Health rolled out the distribution of Mosquito nets to all Ugandans. The nets were distributed door-to-door and also placed at one collection center in villages where residents would pick nets under the guidance of the LCI chairpersons. The distribution was based on number of people per household.
The government’s effort to fight malaria seems to be at risk, especially with acts similar to that of Mutebi. The treated nets are misused by people responsible for giving them out.