The youth mainly first-time voters in the districts of Rakai, Kyotera and Masaka prefer that candidates address them on clear action plans to improve their social welfare including on how they intend to address the unemployment challenges affecting the country.
Youthful Presidentail Candidate John Katumba (Holding a Megaphone), campaiging in Masaka, the youth here say they are yet to get a candidate who addresses their concerns
A section of the youth in Masaka sub region are longing for
improved social-welfare and clear strategies to end the soaring unemployment.
A month after the presidential and parliamentary campaigns
started, four out of the eleven presidential candidates have so far canvassed
for votes in the area.
These include Alliance for National Transformation-ANT flag bearer
Gregory Mugisha Muntu, and independent candidates Willy Mayambala, Joseph Kiiza
Kabuleeta who did not show-up and John Katumba who has campaigned in the area
since Monday.
However, a sample of youths, mainly first-time voters in the
districts of Rakai, Kyotera and Masaka prefer that candidates address them on
clear action plans to improve their social welfare including on how they intend
to address the unemployment challenges affecting the country.
Rashid Tumwebaze, a 21-year-old Boda Boda rider in Kinoni Town
council, Lwengo district says their quest is to listen to a candidate that has
practical solutions that can help the youth improve their social-welfare to add
value to their lives.
Tumwebaze is concerned that many youths are highly struggling to
survive without reliable sources of incomes, a situation that has rendered them
to living impoverished lives and without a clear reflection of their future.
For instance, he says they are looking up for a candidate who can
save them from the exploitation they are suffering at the hands of exorbitant
money lenders who offer them motorcycles on credit, which has reduced them into
habitual beggars.
//Cue in: (Luganda) “ekisooka
abavubuka….
Cue out; ….mbi nyonyo nno.”//
Abdul Mawanda, another youth living in Sembabule town council says
they would wish to engage the presidential candidates on the real issues
affecting their respective areas, an opportunity they are yet to get. He
says they want the presidential candidates to localize their campaign manifestos
to fit into the concerns of local people who he says are currently desperate.
According to Mawanda, besides addressing the general youth
unemployment challenge, their district is also faced with serious inadequacies
in social services delivery that range from poor healthcare and education
systems to acute water scarcity and poor road network that generally affect
residents in the area.
//Cue in: (Luganda)
“kuby’amalwariro ekyali ……
Cue out; …..nga ebitundu.”//
Emmanuel Kaweesi, a youth in Kimanya-Kyabakuza division of Masaka
City he is however disappointed that presidential candidates are not sparing
time to listen to concerns of the local people in the areas where they are
campaigning. He also castigated the security organs of narrowing the space
of engagement between the electorates and many opposition presidential
candidates.
