Ugandan youth cautioned against greed for money

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Ugandan youth have been urged to focus on looking for opportunities to enable their independence instead of demanding quick money.

National Youth Council (NYC) chairperson-elect Daniel Ongom described the latter as 'tokensim'.

He said fellow young people should turn to government programmes such as the Youth Livelihood Programme, Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga and the Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project.

Ongom told youth leaders from the five divisions of Kampala that the so-called tokensim shifts the focus of young people from meaningful policy engagement to simply financial gain.

He said this sort of attitude blurs the youth's focus on issues or policies that matter.

“Many youth leaders and delegates are increasingly preoccupied with personal financial benefit rather than systemic change, which undermines the integrity of youth representation.

“As youths, we should engage in such dialogues to get effective engagements to make us benefit from the government funding available,” said the youth leader.

Under his leadership, Ongom and co plan to push for a budget increase from the current sh4 billion to at least sh10 billion annually for NYC activities.

He said the maintenance of the office and salaries alone use up about 27 percent of the budget, "leaving only sh3 billion to manage NYC activities for the entire country, which is inadequate".

According to the new NYC chairperson, leaders should have their own income-generating projects to avoid treating public office as employment opportunity. 

"Leaders are told to focus on helping citizens move into the cash economy, rather than focusing on personal gains."

Nasifu Abdallah Mukalu, the youth LC5 councilor at Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), said they want to push for dialogue and see how to implement their position papers to the national level.

“We have attended a Space for Community Youth Parliament where the youth gathered to discuss issues affecting them in relation to the 2026 NRM manifesto," she said.

Winnie Mirembe, the Miss Climate Change Awareness Central Uganda, said youths face limited engagement in decision-making processes, governance, and how to make youth leaders accountable for their roles.

“We do not have engagements with the leaders to know the challenges the youth are facing, including protecting the environment and employment," she said.

"We also have to address the gap of grassroots youths councils for the nine village representatives, which has not been addressed effectively after the election process. This hinders the youth from serving effectively. But if we meet more often, this will equip us with governance programmes."

Mirembe said youth leaders should address engagement in governance that requires institutionalising participation, leveraging digital tools for transparency, and building capacity for active citizenship.

“We should make leaders accountable. They must establish structured dialogues and leverage civil society partnerships for advocacy and monitoring."