A section of Ugandan youth have castigated government for what they termed sluggish government action to stall an everyday increase in essential household commodity prices.
Under their Umbrella Uganda Young Patriotic Movement (UYPM), the youth on Sunday raised serious alarm over failure to act by government, to prevent commodity prices from further escalating, which has worsened citzens’ standards of living.
Addressing a youth gathering at Sampro Hotel Lungujja, Lubaga division Kampala, Lameka Matsiko, the chairperson for UYPM expressed worry over the state of commodity prices in the country.
He said the situation has been worsened by other challenging factors in the country, which among others include uneven job distribution, sectarianism, human rights abuses and disregard of the rule of law.
“There is a worrying situation in the country, and this has pushed us to come out and address the people. The situation of biting poverty, scarcity of jobs, underemployment, underpayment,” said Lameka.
“The current state of affairs in the country is worrying, and will not steer us towards a prosperous future, without looking for redress to key challenges in a timely manner. Discrimination based on sects and classes is also a big challenge. There is a class of people, who believe that anything valuable in the country belongs to them. Entrusting our economy to foreigners, who will repartriate all profits to their respective countries of origin will not help Uganda.”
“We want the state to be run ably by clear headed leaders, who have the capability to establish mechanisms aimed at upfting the living standards of the youths, in a way that enables one to easily access better education, health services, and also save for a better future,” added Lameka.
Executive secretary for UYPM Micheal Musisi Mugarura, said that even the spirit of patriotism has been adulterated due to loss of trust in state institutions, and also blamed a section of the youths, who are manipulated by some politicians to oppress others and cause chaos.
“Among others goals, NRM aims to impart a patriotic spirit among the youths, and to all Ugandans, but this has been undermined by greedy and selfish politicians, corruption, bribery have all rocked government circles and no one seems to care. Even parliamentary committees like COSASE have probed various individuals and entities, but their reports and recommendations are ignored by those responsible. We have seen several youths who have been manipulated and given pea nut money to oppress their colleagues,” said Mugarura.
Mutesasira Brown Paul who represents Wakiso district on the same forum blamed government for evicting vendors on the streets of Kampala, without prior consultations and preparations for places, from where they could operate after being evicted.
“Most of our colleagues are rotting in jail over tramped up charges by government. We were all negatively impacted by Covid-19. It is uncalled for, for government to chase vendors, who are mostly the youths, without establishing gazetted places for them to operate. They will now resort to criminal acts like theft, informed by consumption of toxic substances like coccaine, hence ending in jail. Government should have gazzetted proper places for these people to opearate prior to getting them evicted,” said Mutesasira.
Ashaba Hajara, who represents Ntungamo district on this forum said soaring commidity prices is the leading cause of domestic violence in homes, citing that it has left most families disintegrated.
“In instances where there is no food at home, mothers will blame fathers, who will inturn blame government, this bitterness will climax into family wrangles and break-ups because things could not be settled by government,” said Hajara.
Soaring commodity prices have pushed a section of citizens to the brink of starvation, as most of them hardly get enough money to purchase what they need to eat, and cater for other needs, which has caused a toxic mixture of anger and frastration among people.
Others have resorted to local substitutes, like paw paw leaves which are being used as a replacement to soap.
The hiked prices of basic household items like soap, detergents, sugar is not coupled with an increase in salaries of government and private employees, causing unforetold miseries among the populace.
A few weeks ago, the new speaker of Parliament Hon. Anita Among tasked the state minister for finance Hon. Henry Musasizi to address parliament on the status of implementation of recommendation of parliament’s trade committee on commodity prices.
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