Nsibirwa urges wealthy Ugandans to help fight unemployment

The second deputy Katikkiro of Buganda, Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa has warned that the future of Uganda lies in despair if the big youth unemployment challenge is not addressed.

Nsibirwa who is also the Buganda's finance minister says that at least 78% of Uganda's population is of the youth aged 30 years and below. He says that it's unfortunate that a big percentage of those are unemployed.

While addressing Mukono Lions Club, the latest and 43^rd Lions Club to be chartered in Uganda at a function held at Ridar Hotel in Seeta, Nsibirwa asked the well-off Ugandans comprising of the civil servants, businessmen and the politicians to work towards creating jobs or else risk losing their property to chaotic unemployed youth.

"Its high time we started addressing youth unemployment earlier enough before the situation gets out of hand. Let's mentor the youth and make sure we transform them into good citizens. That should be a collective responsibility," he said.

"Those youth when they see us driving second hand Japan's cars, they believe we accumulated property through stealing public funds even when we got through hard work. They believe what we have belongs to them and one time they dream of possessing it (our property)," he added.

According to the statistics, Uganda's national unemployment rate stands at 9.2%, while the unemployment rate for the youth aged 18-30 is 13.3%. At least 83.5% of the Ugandan population aged between 15-29 yrs works in the informal sector. That figure is 10% higher for the young women than men.  

The District Governor 411B, Lion Sedrace Rwekikiga presided over the chartering of Mukono Lions Club with the help of the mother club president of Lions Club of Kampala Central, Canon Lydia Ibingira.

Rwekikiga inducted the Mukono Lions Club charter president, Lion Jonathan Ntulume, his executive and the rest of the members.

Ntulume vowed to work hard and see the communities in Mukono get transformed. He said, he had all the way longed to serve the less privileged and that he had now gotten the opportunity.

The Mukono Lions Club members together with the Rwekikiga started the day with community service where they donated food including matooke, maize flour and refreshments to Chain Foundation which looks after blind children and orphans.

They also planted fruit trees around their compound.