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Luwero, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Unemployment is partially responsible for the ease with which some youths are recruited to indulge in crime such as terror-related activities for a pay, Juliet Najjuma Ssenkoole, the Luweero Resident District Commissioner has said.
According to RDC Najjuma, an employed person is so busy working that s/he can hardly take part in crimes such as terrorism.
She argues that those who are easily recruited are that desperate, and it is because they have lost a sense of direction.
According to Najjuma, these recruits are then used by unscrupulous people or groups who have selfish interests.
The RDC made the remarks while closing a two-week Cow Horn and Livestock Bone Products’ Value Addition Training under WOBIV project at Pope John Paul II Pastoral Center-PJPIIPC at Kasana in Luwero town council.
The training targeted 25 youths in Luwero to enable them gain skills to ably add value to cattle products such as horns, bones among others, not only to find employment, but to also improve their income.
During the training, the trainees gained skills in producing items such as jewelry from horns among others.
RDC Najjuma made reference to the arrest of some suspects who were picked from Kasana in Luwero in connection to the ongoing crackdown on those linked to the Allied Democratic Forces-ADF rebels, who the government has insisted are behind the recent bomb attacks in the country.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga while addressing the media, revealed that two young people were picked from Kasana-Luwero.
Msgr. Francis Xavier Mpanga, the Vicar General of Kasana-Luweero Diocese represented Rt. Rev. Paul Ssemogerere, the Bishop of Kasana-Luweero Diocese who also doubles as the Apostolic Administrator of Kampala Archdiocese, at the closure of the training.
Msgr. Mpanga concurs with RDC Najjuma. He says that the youthful age-bracket is so challenging that a person has a strong appetite for money and related materials.
Msgr. Mpanga notes that the moment youth craving for money and valuable materials fail to attain them, they can end up looking for them desperately, and in due course, they can easily be used, thus committing crime.
Uthuman Mubiru is a youthful butcher attached to Kasana market in Luwero town council, who is one of the beneficiaries of the training. According to Mubiru, his losses from cattle products are to reduce following the skills he has attained in value addition.
Last week while officiating at a week-long workshop which was held at St. Jerome COVE center in Kapeeka in Luwero’s neighboring district of Nakaseke under the theme: Addressing Unemployment and Climate Change through Climate Smart Technologies and Value Addition, Rev. Fr. Hilary Muheezangango, the Director of Caritas Kasanaensis, the Kasana-Luweero Diocesan social development arm said that the increasing number of youths resorting to dealing in metal scrap which is now proving lethal, should be a wake-up call to government and other stakeholders that it is a sign of desperation of unaddressed youth unemployment.
According to the International Labor Organization-ILO, in 2019, the estimated youth unemployment rate in Uganda was at 2.48 percent.
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