In a country with only a 5% of the population holding permanent employment, mostly the elderly, the youth find it very hard to find employment after school. The youth who comprise the bulk of the 17 million estimated working age population are most often required by employers to have several year’s experience before being approved for employment.
Of the 500,000 graduates who are released in the job market every year, about a quarter find a job and the rest left to fend for themselves. Most youth resort to either setting up a small business or agricultural production as an alternative to earn a living. Starting a business requires financial capital that is in most cases not available after much of it has been spent paying tuition. Therefore a situation like this leaves little surprises when the world bank warns that
unless Uganda scales up efforts to create jobs, the jobless young people will have no choice but to find their way into crime and armed conflict as a means of survival, a situation that will also make it difficult for such countries to fight poverty.
The feeling of joblessness creates frustration and despair and any efforts of getting to and permanently staying a land of better opportunities cannot be resisted. Thats why we have the highest deportation rates of over 80 Ugandans being deported every month who are mostly youth. Over-staying a visa, hiding from Police or seeking asylum in places like europe or america are always very enticing options instead of spending time in a beautiful country under the poverty curse.
With the situation above, the youth who are the key to change are left to swing towards anybody who can offer promise them a better job or money. Worse is when all the promises abound when elections are fast approaching and made by no other than the president himself. This reminds of being used to reach one’s goal and then forgotten, the same old song, since the inception of elections in this country. Hopefully, the youth get to negotiate a better living package in this country for their support to different political parties and not believe the come-to-nothing promises.
