The Kilak county area member of parliament Gilbert Oulanya has asked fellow parliamentarians to support the Graduate Youth Guild Bill that he is to table next week before parliament.
The bill is to enable government to automatically give employment opportunities to all university and tertiary institutions graduates in government entities for at least a year to gain experience that most employers in Uganda ask for.
The Graduate Youth Guild Bill, 2021 comes at a time when a number of the graduates are faced with skyrocketing unemployment brought up by inadequate work experience required in the field.
Experts and students have welcomed Oulanya’s Bill stating that when moved and passed into law it will minimise on youth unemployment in the country.
Sharon Atai a young female entrepreneur at Atai female entrepreneurs a young organisation in Teso region told PARROTS UG that there is a need for government and other policy makers to establish programmes and pass policies that promote youth employment.
“The level of youth unemployment in Uganda is worrying. We welcome Programmes which promotes youth employment”. Atai noted.
Uganda is one of the countries with a leading number of unemployment and the most affected persons are the youth who graduate at university.
Government has has established programmes such as the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) and Emyooga funds aiming to promote youth employment in The country. This however has not served to the purpose.
John Abarugire, a development studies graduate who opted for metal fabrication in Katwe say the programmes in place are discriminative in nature and do not benefit graduates.
He said the programmes favour rural youth who live in the same area for easy identification not the graduates living in urban areas.