Prime
Govt tasked to prioritise youth problems
President Museveni arrives in Arua City for the national youth day celebrations on August 12, 2024. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Uganda is considered a largely young country.
As Uganda commemorated International Youth Day yesterday, lawmakers and other stakeholders tasked the government to address the socio-economic, and political problems afflicting the young people in the country.
The stakeholders said instead of spending money on celebrating the day, the government should offer practical solutions to youth unemployment.
Kalangala Woman MP Hellen Nakimuli advised the government to revise the youth policy and the wage bill.
“When we have a function to celebrate the youth, what are we celebrating because youth make up 75 percent of the population of the country, but most of them are unemployed, those who are employed are paid little, we see most of the youth going to Arab countries for greener pastures; the government should devise means to create jobs,” she said in an interview.
Mr Frank Kabuye, the Kassanda South MP and shadow minister for youth and children affairs, urged the government to involve the youth leaders while addressing the challenges the young people face.
“We have impactful professors, youth MPs; we have the president of Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, who has been inspirational to this generation; if it is the Youth Day celebrations, these are the leaders we expect,” Mr Kabuye said.
He also called for respect of youth rights and freedom of expression, which, he said are always violated.
“We have laws that guide us, we want all youth arrested to be freed because they have committed no crime,” he added. He advocated for the revision of the education policy to compel every institution to accommodate 30 percent of fresh graduates to equip them with skills.
“The National Apprenticeship programme has not been seen to operate because since 2018, only 90 people have graduated from there and these people are just figures; we don’t see them, hence we need to get serious about the issue of skilling fresh graduates,” he highlighted.
Mr Balam Barugahara, the state minister for Youth and Children Affairs, while presenting a statement on the Youth Day celebrations in Parliament last Thursday, listed several initiatives by the government to empower young people such as Youth Livelihood Programme, the Women Entrepreneurship Programme, and the Youth Venture Capital Fund.
He said under the National Apprenticeship Scheme, 90 youth were skilled under the pilot scheme, with more than 200 expected to graduate in November 2024.
However, Ms Nancy Acora, the woman MP for Lamwo, called for the need to support the youth with equipment after the training. “After the training of six months, people who have done tailoring should be given the sowing machines because many are poor,” she said.
Mr Karim Masaba, the MP for Industrial Division in Mbale City, advocated for the minimum wage law to curb the exploitation of youth at workplaces.
