Will the Graduates’ Fund solve Uganda’s unemployment woes?

By Joel Ogwang

UNTOLD joy and celebrations mark every graduation ceremony. Graduates and their families celebrate the end of years of hard work and high fees. But, the unanswered question is: What next after the party?

Unemployment has dogged graduates poured onto the job market every year.

James Kinobe, the youth and child affairs state minister, says unemployment is a global problem. To address it, however, the Government plans to put in place a Graduates’ Fund.

“The fund will be in form of a grant given to every Ugandan upon graduation,” Kinobe says.
This, he says, will bail out graduates who do not have assets to use as collateral in accessing bank loans.

According to the minister, President Yoweri Museveni has already rooted for the proposal.

How it will work
A national graduates’ data bank will be put in place. This will help the Government know how many students graduate annually.
Graduates will have to present work plans or proposals to access the funds. “If a proposal is not worth funding, we will not fund it,” Kinobe says.
The caution arose out of the misuse of the Youth Enterprise Scheme (YES) Fund. Kinobe says most of the beneficiaries took to drinking and marrying-off with the money they got.
If all goes as planned, the fund will be operational starting in the 2008/09 fiscal year.

Reactions to the Graduates’ Fund
Florence Apio, a parent, says: “On the surface, it is a good innovation, but the question is how much shall a student get?” Apio is afraid that like with other micro-finance loans, failure to re-pay the money will lead to arrests.

Muhamad Kitaka, a graduate of a bachelors degree in Business Administration, says selfish individuals in the Government may abuse the Fund.
“We all know what befell Global Fund monies. If money meant for HIV/AIDS patients can be stolen, how sure are we that the (Graduates’) Fund is in safe hands?”

Fagil Mandy, an education consultant, says the scheme may not solve the unemployment equation. “It is unimaginable and unreal. Our economy can’t sustain it. I don’t think it (the fund) will succeed in fighting unemployment.”
Mandy blames the unemployment problem on poor attitude of most graduates to work, urging the Government to sensitise them about jobs they can apply for.

He says the recovery of the fund, being a grant, will be even harder. “Being a third-world country, repayment will be hard. In fact, it will be a throw away.”
Augustus Nuwagaba, the Makerere University Academic Staff Association chairman, cautions that there should not be politicking involved in distributing the money. “It will be a good prospect, but needs a lot of thinking,” he says. “It should, however, not be associated with politics.”

Nuwagaba says politicking led to the collapse of the Entandikwa credit scheme and could derail the Bonna Bagaggawale (prosperity for all) scheme. The Government lost sh9b in the defunct Entandikwa scheme in 1997.

Universities in Uganda
Until the 1980’s, Uganda had only one university — Makerere. “You either joined it (Makerere) on government sponsorship or you missed university education,” says Kinobe.

However, on assuming power in 1986, the National Resistance Movement government undertook a liberalisation policy. Today, there are 21 universities in Uganda, five of them public.
The overall literacy level is 68%, while that of persons between 18 years and above is 64%.
On average, 1,300 students graduate annually. This means over 27,300 graduates storm the tight labour market annually.
“The public sector employs only about 300,000 people,” says Denis Obua, the northern region youth MP. “But the same people hold these offices every year.”

Uganda’s labour market
The 2002 population and housing census estimates that 76.5% of Ugandans are employed in the agriculture sector.
The 2002/03 Uganda National Household Survey, the local labour force is estimated at 9.8 milion, 53% of whom are female.
The sales and services sector account for 8.2%, mining and manufacturing 2.2%, construction 1.6% and others 11/5%.
The overall unemployment rate in Uganda stands at 17%, while the urban unemployment rate is 12%.
Generally, unemployment for youth is 6.3% and is highest among female youths (8.8%) than for males (7.5%).

Most affected lot
Joseph Okwakao, the national youth forum chief, says the real brunt of unemployment and poverty is felt by the youth.
“We (youth) comprise the majority (about 70%) of Uganda’s population,” he says. “We are, above all, the most unemployed and poverty-stricken lot.”
In spite of the few available jobs, long experiences demanded in most advertised jobs, hinder youths from seeking employment, notes Obua.
Obua wants the Government to scrap experience as a yard stick used in job acquisition as well as reduce the retirement age from the current 65 to 50 for civil servants.

Cause of unemployment
The Minister of Gender, Syda Bbumba, partly blames the colonial-mode of education for the high unemployment.
“The British knew they were leaving and needed people to replace them,” she says. “Our (education) system emphasises job seeking instead of creation.”

Bbumba says the poor attitude to jobs, lack of entrepreneurial skills, lack of experience and poverty have escalated the unemployment problem in Uganda.

To scale down unemployment, the Government has introduced a science policy in a bid to produce practical students who can create their own jobs.
“The Government will start 980 vocational schools in the country to increase enrolment,” says Bbumba. One vocational school will be built in each sub-county.