Misuse your youth and suffer in old age - Museveni

By Moses Walubiri

KAMPALA - President Yoweri Museveni has cautioned youths against wasting their youths dabbling in nonproductive ventures like “swinging women” in night clubs.

He warns that those foolhardy enough to make clubbing (going to the disco) their pastime risk enduring a tough time in the evening of their lives.

During the national launch of the sh265b youth livelihood program at Kololo ceremonial grounds Friday, Museveni challenged the youths to play an integral role in transforming Uganda, “starting with their families.”

“When I completed my A Level in 1966, I left many of my contemporaries in a dance hall in Mbarara swinging girls. You cannot afford to spend your prime on nonproductive ventures,” Museveni said, in his one-hour speech whose kernel was wealth creation as opposed to conspicuous consumption.

“Always ask, what can I do to help my parents now that I am of age?” Museveni challenged his young audience, cautioning them against shouldering the burden of looking after their extended families.

“I have transformed the Kaguta household,” Museveni said in his exhortation to youths to be transformational agents in their families, adding; “Now, we don’t have peasants in the Kaguta family, only middle class.”

Museveni also revealed why he decided to draw a line under the “craze” of creating new districts, decrying what he said had become an eating bonanza, instead of channeling resources to building infrastructure.

Uganda has seen an exponential rise in the number of districts over the last 15 years, with the resultant needless layers of political administration draining resources from core development projects aimed at service delivery to footing salaries and allowances of politicians.

The Youth Livelihood Fund is a government blue print to haul youths from the abyss of poverty through giving them capital to start projects aimed at creating self-employment.