By Joshua Kato
Although the youth make up the majority of Uganda's population, 60% of them are not employed

He had taken his car for repair at Kisekka market when a crowd of youth surrounded him. They pleaded to fix the problem, before the owner had even told them what it was.

Each carrying a tool, they swarmed the car, all promising Edward they could get him the most affordable spare parts â€” side mirrors, car locks, wheel caps, etc.
Edward had heard about the many unemployed youth in Kisekka market, but had never come face to face with the reality.

â€œThey were over 15, each claiming to be an expert at this or that,â€ he says. A quick look showed the average age of the youth was 19 years.

â€œThey were robust and argumentative. Soon, a fight ensued over who should remove the car tyres,â€ he says.

A few metres away, more youth stood in a group arguing about soccer. Suddenly, what started as a small argument broke into a fight.

â€œThey fight all the time. They are a bomb waiting to explode,â€ says Sam Luswata, lockup owner in the area.

It is not surprising that the September 11 riots that left many injured and some dead and property worth millions of shillings destroyed started in Kisekka Market.

The market has seen over five bloody riots in the recent years. And with everything unraveling before him, Edward concluded the cause of such incidents is the unemployed youth.

â€œHere, we have rioters for hire and it is easy to understand why,â€ Luswata says.

According to market authorities, there are about 700 stalls in the market. However, about 20,000 people â€˜workâ€™ in the market daily. The authorities say 90% of these are youth whose work ranges from repairing and washing cars, and vending used car parts.

Like Kisekka market, there are other places in Kampalaâ€™s outskirts like Katwe, Ndeeba, Kisenyi, Kalerwe, Kosovo, Nakulabye, Bwaise and Nansana with a large number of unemployed youth.

The 2002 National Census put the population of Kampala at 1.1 million, about 800,000 of these below the age of 40 years. Most of them do not have formal jobs.

According to the 2009 World Bank Africa Development Report, Uganda has one of the highest percentage of unemployed youth.

The report says though the youth are the majority, they comprise only 40% of the working group in Uganda, leaving 60% unemployed.

In 2009, the United Nations Population Fund reported that the increasing number of unemployed youth, especially in the developing world posed a serious danger to society.

The report said these youth lack access to basics like water, sanitation, health care services and schools.

â€œThis youth unemployment is responsible for the rising crime. The more they are redundant, the more they use all possible means to survive,â€ says Dr. Augustus Nuwagaba, a social/economic researcher.

The few who have something to do, do odd jobs and are paid peanuts. Some become taxi touts and others car washers and carpenters.

But even these odd jobs are not enough. For example, for every car that goes to Kisekka market for repair, there are over 20 young men clamouring to work on it.

A survey in the taxi parks showed that for every taxi, there are 10 youth fighting to be touts and a survey on boda-boda stages shows that for every bike, there are five youth fighting to ride it.

â€œThere is one who rides it in the morning, one in the night which leaves three other youth unemployed,â€ says Twahir Bwete, a boda boda stage chairman in Kisaasi.

Authorities in the taxi park say there is a policy of registering only the people who come with taxis. â€œWe realised that so many youth were coming here just to buy time.

That is why we started registering them,â€ says Mohamed Katono, the officer in charge of the Busunju/Kiboga stage.

In various interviews, most of the youth claim they need capital to do their work.

Enticed into criminality
For lack of what to do, they easily succumb to fracas as it gives them an opportunity to get â€˜something to eatâ€™. Participating in riots gives them a chance to vandalise cars and loot shops.

With no jobs, these youth are bound to engage in such criminal activities. According to the Police crime records, about 80% of the people arrested for crimes like robbery and rape are youth.

Erias Lukwago, the Kampala Central MP, says most of these youth leave their villages for the city in search of better opportunities but are lured into crime because of unemployment.

The involvement of the youth in crime can better be seen in the current wave of crime in recent years.

In Nansana and the surrounding areas, at least 10 houses were broken into in the past few weeks. In two of the cases, the thugs raped their victims.

In Kawempe, two youth attacked a woman in her room, raped her and took off with her household property. Two weeks ago, the Police arrested a gang of 11 youth (including women) who rob passengers in taxis.

But such a large number of idle youth can be a national threat. The world over, rebel insurgents take advantage of redundant youth whom they recruit into their rebel activities. Groups like the Allied Democratic Forces and the Lordâ€™s Resistance Army are examples.

Youth unrepresented
Although there are youth representatives at the district and national level, the youth say this representation is not yet beneficial to them. â€œYouth development is not prioritised yet the youth are the leaders of tomorrow,â€ said Joseph Kasozi, the central region Youth MP, during the Youth Day celebrations in Luweero last year.

And councillors at KCC agree with Kasozi. â€œDuring the budgeting process, we are told to give priority to key sectors and youth development is not one of them,â€ says Bernard Luyiga, a councillor.

According to records, youth activities are given less than 1% of the budgetary allocations.

Ring-fence jobs?
During the youth day celebrations, there were proposals to ring-fence jobs for the youth. â€œThe aspect of asking for so much experience should stop, and retirement age lowered to 50 years,â€ says Charles Musitwa, a youth leader in Kawempe.

But how many jobs can be created by reducing the retirement age from 55 to 50? While meeting youth groups in Luweero last year, President Yoweri Museveni said about 15,000 jobs may be created for the youth annually.

However, these jobs will only benefit the educated youth, leaving out others.
â€œThere are few factories where these youth can be employed as casual labourers,â€ says Lukwago. â€œThe Government must find a solution to this problem.â€

However, Nuwagaba says the youth are not to blame. â€œThe education policy does not give them enough skills to create jobs,â€ he says.

He adds that in todayâ€™s social setting where some people want quick riches has also spoilt the youth.

SACCOS for the youth
Because the youth lack collateral security, they cannot benefit from the Government anti-poverty programmes. â€œI wanted to borrow money to buy my own tool box, but I was told by the SACCO staff that I was not eligible,â€ Kitonsa says.

But Salim Uhuru , the Kisenyi II Parish councillor, says there is need to set up SACCOS that cater for the youth. Uhuru, who started the Uganda Youth Cooperative Society in Kisenyi says he targets youth doing jua-kali (small-scale) enterprises.

â€œThey register as a group because they have no security. The group members act as the security. If one defaults, the group takes care of him,â€ he says.

Speaking to the SACCOS groups in Kapchorwa last month, Ruth Nankabirwa, the state minister for microfinance, says they were holding discussions with international banks to help the Government set up a microfinance fund specifically for the vulnerable groups.

The President has also been talking about a youth financial scheme. But until then, young men like Kitonsa will continue to eke a living through whichever means that come their way. And this is not fun!

Tackling hunger in Uganda: Success stories and ongoing challenges

green fields and bustling

Tags: