The Minister for Presidency Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has assured the ghetto youths in Buyende district that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is ready and willing to support them in transforming their lives once they get organised.
Minister Babalanda made the remarks yesterday, 23rd April, during the Ghetto youths meeting that was organised by the Director of Crime Intelligence, Brig. Gen. Christopher Ddamulira at Iringa Township Primary School, Nkondo Sub-county, Buyende District, which is a general program in the whole country.
Minister Babalanda appealed to the ghetto youths to get organised and form SACCOs so that the government can have proper channels of supporting them through their groups.
Buyende District has over 1300 ghetto youths from all the 14 sub-counties that form Buyende District.
The Minister expressed gratitude to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Brig. Gen. Christopher Ddamulira for transforming the image of Ghettos in Uganda, which used to be irritating to the public.
Minister Babalanda asked the youths to support the NRM government and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni because it is the only government that has reorganised them and come up with strategies for transforming their lives.
“The NRM government under the stewardship of the President has a clear agenda and strategies for transforming your livelihood. It is a matter of getting organised so that you can share the Ghetto Youths’ cake just like other areas in Kampala, Mbale, Luwero, Jinja and others,” she said.
Minister Babalanda called upon the youths to support the government programs aimed at economic empowerment, like PDM, Emyooga and others, because President Museveni is working tirelessly to make sure that poverty is no more, and that is why he is moving the whole country emphasising the four-acre model, PDM and others.
Brig. Gen. Ddamulira, in his remarks, highlighted the three pillars of the Ghetto youths programme, where he stated that the Ghetto youths programme aims at fighting criminality, promoting patriotism and skilling among the Ghetto youths.
“This programme is helping to fight criminality because we found out that since the ghetto youth are unemployed, most of them have been so much in the ghetto doing a lot of criminal activities like stealing, smoking weed, etc. This program also aims at promoting patriotism amongst the ghetto youths to love their country and protect the image of their country, because most politicians have been taking advantage of their Ghetto lifestyle to involve them in criminal activities that tarnish the image of the country. It also aims at skilling the ghetto youths using the Presidential Skilling hubs to create their jobs based on the skills acquired using the startup capital that the government puts in their SACCOs,” Gen. Ddamulira said.
“Through the Ghetto structure, you are supposed to form SACCOs, and Mzee will inject money into them. That money will help to transform your lives,” he said.
According to Gen. Ddamulira, criminality will be no more if all ghetto youths get involved in any income-generating activity and can earn a living.
“This ghetto SACCO fund has a 5% interest rate. They give you that money, you go and work, and then you return it with a small interest. You can use this money to invest in any venture you are comfortable with,” he noted.
“When you get something to do, it will also be difficult to be diverted by some selfish individuals who excite you, and in turn, you make wrong decisions which have repercussions.”
Gen. Ddamulira, who is the ghetto structure project coordinator, further revealed that police initiatives such as the ghetto empowerment programme have been able to reduce the crime rate in the country.
“According to the 2024 police crime report, crime reduced by 4.1% due to the impact of the ghetto empowerment programme, among other police initiatives,” he urged.
“In Kampala, we are in the third year of operation. We have been to Kampala, Mukono, Wakiso, Mbale, and recently, we were in Luweero, Jinja and now Buyende. We plan to traverse all major towns and cities in the country.”
Gen. Ddamulira also disclosed that the ghetto empowerment programme is meant to transform the ghetto youths and save them from prison.
“We want to fight criminality in the ghetto. We want the ghetto youths to stop going to prison because of crime. Now it’s upon you to listen and work with us to deal with crime. This program is meant to save you from prison,” he stated.
“We should know that a person can live without being a criminal and can spend their entire life without being taken to the police.”
Gen. Ddamulira also advised the youths to embrace free government skilling programmes like the PDM, Emyooga, and Presidential Industrial Hub, to further deal with the challenge of unemployment.
“The initiative doesn’t need academic qualifications; you just register, and after six months of training, you get a certificate that is equivalent to that of Senior Four.”
The meeting was also attended by Col. Oguli Dhamuzungu, Regional Whip of RDCs, RPC, RDCs, Deputy RDCs, Assistant RDCs, Local Area Leaders, among others.
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