Photo credit: news.vice.com

Government is concerned about the mushrooming unemployment levels among the youth and need to address the problem permanently. The Minister of Defence Dr Chrispus Kiyonga, while on the floor of Parliament said unemployment is a structural problem in Uganda and therefore needs time to resolve it as one way of creating jobs for the youth.

He said Government has a plan of addressing youth unemployment by investing in programs of liberalizing the infrastructure and vision 2040 which will create employment for the people of Uganda especially the Youth. Kiyonga further noted that Politicians should not promise the youth employment but focus on long term measures of solving unemployment by coming up with specific programs that will help the people of Uganda to overcome the problem .

The Minister for youth and children affairs, Evelyn Anite, revealed that government has taken 2000 young people to work in the Middle East as a way to fight unemployment and she said that 71,000 jobs were created for youth under the Youth livelihood programme. She said that her Ministry is working on creating employment for 5 Million youths in Uganda and she promised that government is going to get the National youth policy on employment.

The Youth MP for Western Uganda, Gerald Karuhanga, asked political parties to desist from using youths as perpetrators of election violence as the country moves to election period in 2106. Member of Parliament for Kawempe south Latif Sebaggala called for re-tabling of the Anti-Homosexuality act and pass it as a gift to the youths as a way of protecting them from homosexuality behaviours.

This year’s theme for youth celebrations was under the theme “We are the Investment Choices we make: Youth matter” and Katakwi district hosted the year’s celebrations.