A decent burial is all we get from our associations – motorcycle taxi operators

Motor cycle taxi operators in Kigali have expressed disillusionment in their associations’ leadership citing lack of accountability. “Apart from giving us this one uniform yet we even paid for two; Assetamorwa has not benefited us in any way. We paid Rwf 100,000 for membership but we have never seen what the money has helped us as members,” lamented one operator who preferred anonymity. He added that the only thing ASSETAMORWA does is giving a decent burial when a member dies. “A person only benefits from it when he dies because they don’t even visit when you are in hospital or follow up on your family when you are dead.” The motorcycling fraternity is governed by two sister associations, ASSETAMORWA for the big motorcycles and ATAMEMORWA for the small ones usually called ‘velo moteur’. However, interviews of motorcyclists in the two associations, reveal that they all share similar grievances. Due to constant pressures from motorcyclists who demand accountability and benefits from their contributions, both associations which operate independently have advised to transform into cooperatives. “We are pushing for the transformation of ASSETAMORWA into a cooperative so that we can be empowered to benefit from our contributions since we shall be lawful shareholders,” pointed out a seemingly exasperated motorcyclist who operates from the Remera stage. “They are demanding for fresh fees from us to go into cooperatives yet we have just paid the Rwf 100,000 which they can’t even account for as we speak,” said Jean Marie Tugirumuremyi. “There is completely no accountability for the money we pay. You can’t know what it has done for any of us. All they do is make promises of bettering our trade but nothing materializes.” Attempts to reach the ASSETAMORWA president were futile as his phone number was consistently off. However Charles Nizeyimana, the ATAMEMORWA vice president, branded the complainants as people on the opposition. He said The association advocates for its members at various levels, getting them permits and ensuring their security s. “Those who claim we have not done anything are only opposing us. We have many programs in the pipeline which be believe will help motorcyclists. These include facilitating them to undertake English training to fit into the East African Community,” Nizeyimana said. When asked about the issue of the alleged lack of accountability, Nizeyimana said the money collected is used in the daily expenses of the activities they are involved in including those mentioned above. The taxi motorcyclists also expressed a need to elect their own leaders who they said should have experience in their trade. That such a leader would know their problems as opposed to the current system where they had no say. Another grievance they raised is the issue of ASSETAMORWA requiring them to pay for new uniforms yet they are going to be issued by Rwandatel. Motorcyclists here are much more disciplined than those in neighboring countries. They have religiously abided by many traffic laws for instance wearing a helmet and reminding the passenger to wear one, carrying only one passenger at a time and other rules. Ends