Gov't reviews conditions for youth funds

Mar 07, 2012

Government has revised some of the stringent conditions that were set for the youth to access the sh25b youth Enterprise Venture capital fund.

By Henry Sekanjako

Government has revised some of the stringent conditions that were set for the youth to access the sh25b youth Enterprise Venture capital fund.

Parliament recently tasked the finance ministry to explain why the youth fund has been tagged with stringent conditions, which the legislators said would hinder the intended beneficiaries from accessing the money.

Appearing before the Parliament’s committee on gender, labour and social development on Tuesday, finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka said government had revisited some of the stringent conditions to enable all intended beneficiaries access the funds.

The minister said they had scrapped off a condition that requires beneficiaries to present their O’ level certificates of education before accessing the money.

“We have decided to soften some of the terms to make the fund more accessible by the youth,” Kiwanuka said.

She noted that the ministry was in consultations with the banks responsible for handling the loans to consider giving out loans of up to sh10m to a group of two people rather than the five that was proposed in the earlier terms and conditions.

She added that government had also revised the age bracket for accessing the youth fund from 25 to between 18 and 35 to enable all the youth access funds.

Kiwanuka explained that a toll free hotline and customer care center had been established by the responsible banks to help the youth address their complaints regarding the youth.

She said banks will be monitoring all the youth groups that will have got the loans by giving quarterly reports on loans highlighting who has borrowed, how much and how their loans would be progressing.

More revision wanted

However lawmakers asked the ministry to consider revising other conditions such as the interest rates to a much lower rate than the proposed 15 % rate.

The MPs also want Centenary and DFCU banks that are responsible for handling the youth enterprise capital fund to extend mobile banking facilities to rural areas to enable the youth in such areas access the funds without covering long distances.

They also proposed that government identifies established SACCOS in rural areas through which money can be channeled for the youth to access.

Meanwhile, the committee chaired by MP for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) William Nokorach also queried the sh16b part of the 44.5b youth fund that was given to Kampala Capital City Authority for developing markets in Kampala.

He argued that it should have been split to cover other municipalities and not Kampala alone.

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