OPINION
When President Museveni invited young people to his Kisozi farm, the intention was clear: to listen, to engage and to understand the challenges facing Uganda’s youth. Yet what unfolded was a mix of stand-up comedy, personal pleas, and scattered requests. While the atmosphere may have been lighthearted, the gravity of the issues at hand demands more than jokes and vague appeals.
Uganda’s youths are not short of challenges. Unemployment continues to push many into precarious work abroad as domestic workers (Kadama), or into boda boda riding at home jobs that are risky, underpaid, and often fatal due to poor road safety and hammer hits. High loan interest rates and exorbitant costs of electricity cripple local production, discouraging young entrepreneurs. Hospitals remain under-equipped, understaffed, medicines scarce, and countless young lives are lost prematurely due to inadequate healthcare services.
Even in the digital space, where many youth seek opportunity, barriers remain. Data costs are punishingly high, Facebook remains blocked, and taxes on essential tools of modern business second-hand phones, garments for tailoring and other youth-driven enterprises—stifle innovation. These are not abstract problems; they are daily realities that suffocate ambition and force young Ugandans into survival mode rather than growth.
The tragedy is not that the youth lack ideas, but that they lack orientation. When given a rare platform before the President, the conversation should not dissolve into comedy or personal favors. It should be sharpened into a one-minute elevator pitch that captures the collective struggle: unemployment, high taxes, poor healthcare, unsafe roads, and digital exclusion. These are the issues that matter, the issues that define whether Uganda’s youth will thrive or merely survive.
If the government truly wants to empower the next generation, it must address the structural barriers that choke youth enterprise and opportunity. Lower the cost of production, invest in healthcare, make roads safer, reduce punitive taxes, and unlock digital platforms. These are not luxuries; they are necessities for a nation whose future rests squarely on the shoulders of its young people.
The next time youth are called to “jazz” with Jaja, let them come prepared not to entertain, but to demand. Because it is indeed our turn to eat, but only if the table is set with policies that nourish opportunity, dignity, and hope.
Written by Ivan Kutegyeka Omupakasi
Social worker, entrepreneur & CEO Baje Walking Africa.
