New Kira leaders to register unemployed youth

Kira Municipality mayor-elect Julius Mutebi has promised to register every unemployed youth in his constituency as soon as he assumes office in May.

Mutebi said that after registering all job seekers in Kira, he will contact owners of the industries and organisations in Wakiso to give them jobs.

He told New Vision that his plan is to find at least 100 jobs for unemployed youth in Kira every year to address the worsening problem of youth unemployment.

Mutebi noted that lack of a database for unemployed youth has been aggravating unemployment because opportunities come when there are no known skilled youth to take them.

He made the remarks on Friday while handing over a consignment of equipment which the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) officials from Kireka Branch donated to the Elite Shoe Youth group in Kira.

The Elite Shoe Youth Group constitutes 20 educated youth who, after failing to find jobs, formed a Community-based Organization (CBO) that makes shoes.

The equipment worth sh15m which NSSF donated included a manual shoe sole presser, scoring machine, grower and sewing machine.

Mutebi also advised young people and their parents to shun the mentality that, if someone doesn't get a university degree, that person is a failure.

He said that in Europe where he spent several years as a student, people give less attention to university education and more on vocational education.

Mutebi further promised to set up a vocational institute in all the divisions in Kira during his term to increase access to vocational education.

On his part, Kira Division chairperson, Gerald Kizito promised to support Mutebi's bid to fight unemployment.

Kizito said it's hard for every youth who graduates from the universities every year to find a job and urged Ugandans to establish cottages to address youth unemployment.

Meanwhile, NSSF branch manager for Kireka, Lawrence Tumwebaze said that they chose the group to benefit from the donation because it is registered with final products that show seriousness.

He said that every financial year, NSSF organises a customer connect week which climaxes when they give back to the communities to thank them.