Graduates tipped on jobs

Josephine Maseruka                 

Hundreds of youth who turned up for the second Buganda Youth Conference 2011 have been cautioned against being selective while hunting for jobs and to have a positive attitude towards work.

They have also been urged to form associations or cooperative unions through which they can jointly venture into investments within their respective professions.

The counsel was from Katikkiro J.B. Walusimbi at the opening of the conference held at Hotel Africana on Thursday.

Walusimbi advised youth leaders to venture into socio-economic activities as recommended in their first youth conference and to desist from turning the annual gathering into a ‘talking conference’.

He stated, “Every year when you convene you must present a report on the developmental projects you have managed to effect.”

He explained that youth who studied education should think of forming a cooperative society to venture into setting up schools, engineers to form construction firms because” together we can succeed.”

The youth conference which attracted over 300 youth leaders from Uganda centered on ‘promotion of investment and entrepreneurship skills among the youth in Buganda”

The youth were from kingdom youth councils, institutions political parties and from the various kingdoms in Uganda.
The youth conference preceded the main Buganda Conference to be held today ( Friday) at Hotel Africana,  to be graced by Kabaka Ronald Mutebi and the Nnabagereka Sylvia Nnagginda.

Walusimbi explained that out of the 300,000 graduates only 50,000 get formal employment, a few join the private sector while the rest loiter city streets looking for jobs.

“The main challenge we have as Buganda government is to identify exportable opportunities for our youth for faster development of the kingdom and Uganda at large.”

He regretted that one of the key challenges in Uganda is lack of human capital. He noted that whereas the youth are educated they lack skills to and have poor attitude toward certain jobs.

In a key-note address Charles Mayiga, the Mengo minister for information and cabinet affairs urged the youth and other citizens to explore the productive options available to them at the right age in order to succeed.

Discussing a topic on ‘exploration and segmentation of productive options for youth’ Mayiga said that for anyone to succeed one needs good health, wisdom to know the right thing and the company of good friends.

“ If at 25 you long to eat fats, sweets, kilogrammes of meat, to gallop litres of alcohol, if you prefer the joy of watching the Hostel series to jogging, then surely you will soon be taken ill.”

The chairman of the organizing committee Apollo Makubuya , also the kingdom’s attorney general said that a job centre will restored at Bulange to connect the youth to job opportunities within and without Uganda. He said it would operate daily.

The youth minister Florence Bagunywa Nkalubo said that the ministry had helped the youth  to elect their leaders and councils in all the kingdom counties save in four.

Among the future plans for Buganda youth is the acquisition of land at Kakeeka  where a multi-purpose facility would be constructed to benefit the youth.

Collective youth farming, skills training facilitating the over 600 Nkoba za Mbogo associations would be a priority.