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Minister for the Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda, addressed the importance of skill development and vocational training in combating youth unemployment during a graduation ceremony in Kayunga on Wednesday 21st June 2023. She highlighted the availability of financial support through the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga programs, urging the youth to access these funds to uplift their welfare. The minister called upon the leaders of Kayunga to support government programs and discouraged bribery while accessing funds.

The Minister for the Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has commended the people of Kayunga for putting into action the National Resistance Movement (NRM) policy of skilling Ugandans.

According to Hon. Babalanda, skilling is a very important goal of the NRM government because it provides the clearest solution to the country’s most challenging issue of youth unemployment.

The Minister made the remarks on Wednesday 21^st June 2023 while presiding over the first graduation ceremony of Ahamed Sseguya Memorial Technical Institute- Kayunga.

“The graduands standing before us are the fruit of our deliberate program of skilling Ugandans. However, you should not look at skilling as purely a government-sponsored effort. Skilling is as well an effort of the private sector,” Hon. Babalanda emphasized.

“Countries that have taken off with their economies have relied a great deal on skilling their citizens. Japan, China, Singapore, India and Malaysia are all examples of nations that have developed their human resource through vocational skilling programs,” she added.

The Minister also expressed gratitude to the people of Kayunga for remembering the late Ahamed Seguya who was very instrumental in the protracted war that brought the NRM government into power in 1986.

“When I see that you named this school after him, it is a sign that you value his contributions. What I am seeing today is exactly what comrade Sseguya and others were fighting for,” she said.

“The levels of literacy and College Education were still very poor by the time of the struggle. However, as you can see today; we have numerous universities, very many tertiary institutions and hundreds of secondary and primary schools.”

Hon. Babalanda further tasked the graduands to look beyond their graduation ceremony and start working on projects that will promote self-employment through individual enterprises.

“You are called upon to use the knowledge you have acquired to support your parents to undertake commercial agricultural enterprises. Kayunga has many promising enterprises such as livestock, poultry and fruit farming that can be done on large scale,” she said, adding,” Additionally, I invite you to take advantage of the money the government is providing through the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga. These funds target people like you who have artisan knowledge and projects.”

The Minister on the other hand, directed the Kayunga Resident District Commissioner to link up with the Principal of the Vocational College and the Local Government Authorities of Kayunga to ensure that the graduates’ benefit from the Emyooga funds.

“However, I need to caution you to have a culture and a discipline of saving and managing your money well. Do not spend your hard-earned money on useless things which may even expose you to acquiring deadly diseases like AIDS or losing all your money through gambling.”

Hon. Babalanda also urged the leaders of Kayunga to join hands to promote the government programs of PDM and Emyooga. She said these two programs are aimed at improving the welfare of the people. “The funds do not have many conditionalities for access unlike the Banks and Money Lenders.If we can utilize well the money received, it will change the lives of our people,” she stated.

“I advise the members of the public not to pay bribes to access these funds. The citizens should report those who are asking for bribes to the RDCs/RCCs. If it is the RDC/RCC asking for the bribe you are requested to report them to the Minister.”

On the issue of value addition, the Minister advised the people of Kayunga to take advantage of the fertile soils in the district to promote commercial agriculture.

“There is plenty of maize and other cereals in the district. Please process the maize and all the cereals because these can fetch higher prices. Take advantage of the machinery provided by the CAIIP program to add value to all your produce.”

Hon. Babalanda was also happy to note that complaints about land grabbing and illegal evictions have reduced in Kayunga.

“I urge you nonetheless to secure titles for your lands. If you don’t do this, the fraudsters are going to put titles on your land and to get this off will take lengthy court battles. This scenario is the reason the RDCs/RCCs are having challenges to implement the presidential directive on land evictions. Please report land grabbers to the RDC and the local leaders.”

She also requested the parents to talk to their children about HIV/AIDS. She asserted that AIDS is still a killer, but it can be avoided if the children are well brought up with discipline and positive moral and cultural values.

“Please remember that AIDS treatments are for a lifetime and are very expensive. You do not want your young child to start on an AIDS treatment for a lifetime. The leaders should talk about AIDS all the time, as well the teachers should do the same in schools.”

Corruption:

The Minister said corruption is a major cause of poor service delivery in the country. She explained that the government remits money to districts every year but because of unpatriotic people there is nothing to show of these funds apart from the shoddy works and the wasted public funds.

“It is important that everyone wakes up to fight this Vice,” she urged.

The Principal of Ahamed Seguya Memorial Technical Institute, Hadijah Nakakande Ssenyondo commended President Museveni for directing that the institution be renamed in remembrance of the late Ahamed Seguya, a veteran NRA soldier who worked towards the development of Kayunga.

Ms. Nakakande decried the low enrollment in the Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) compared to other academia. She called upon parents to encourage their children especially the youth to enroll for skills training irrespective of their academic levels.

“In this 21st century, flexibility in skill acquisition is paramount as we should be able to learn, unlearn and re-learn skills at the right time depending on the dynamics of the technology,” she stressed.

Ms. Nakakande further thanked President Museveni for increasing the salaries of scientists in the country, saying that this is likely to positively impact on the parents’ mindset towards TVET and other sciences.

The Chairperson Board of Governors of the Institute, Hajjat Madinah Serunjogi thanked the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education for the continued provisions that have enabled them to sustain the day to day running of the institution. “Because of government support we continue paying staff wages and facilitating the teaching and learning process,” Hajjat Serunjogi said. “To the graduands, you put in hard work, and you have achieved what many people desire but didn’t get a chance to get it accomplished. Be grateful, for many people stop on the way. This graduation speaks volumes of your commitment and determination.”

Ms. Ritah Namuwenge, the Emyooga National Coordinator, disclosed that the President is pained that some Ugandans are still poor and that is why he has been coming up with several poverty alleviation programs to deal with the problem.

“H.E the President knows that we want to work but the challenge is capital so through Emyooga we are giving you seed capital to work and make you rich,” Ms. Namuwenge told the graduands.

Dr. Dan Bubaale, the Kayunga District Education Officer (DEO) said his only prayer is that institutions such as Ahamed Seguya Memorial Technical Institute are elevated into skills training universities. He said with such a step, Uganda will be able to achieve the pillars of its socio-economic transformation agenda. “Skilling Uganda is the way to go. I’m a living example,” Dr. Bubaale said.