Lango youth urged d to embrace saving culture

KWANIA – Dr. Joseph Abraham Odongkara, the former UK Principal Commercial Judge, now the provincial secretary attached to the Diocese of West Lango, has challenged the young people in Lango Sub-region to embrace a saving culture if they are to build their future on a strong financial foundation.

Odongkara, while speaking during the Kwania district youth leaders’ training held on Tuesday at the Diocese of West Lango, said a number of the young people have remained poor as a result of economic ignorance and greed for money.

He asked the youth in Lango Sub-region to also venture into commercial farming, saying it would help them to improve their livelihoods. “Venture into commercial farming and save the little you have. Economic ignorance and greed for money have consumed us. You must wake up and be economically vibrant,” he said.

Odongkara asked the youth not to be selective when it comes to work, saying this is one of the reasons why some of the young people remain unemployed.

“When I was at the university doing my Masters in Law, I got a job as a toilet attendant for two good years and paid my tuition. My colleagues would call me a toilet attendant but at the end of the day, when they wanted money, they would borrow from the same toilet attendant,” he said.

A number of the youth leaders who attended the training outlined a lack of vibrant projects for the youths, financial literacy, and unemployment as key challenges affecting them.

Vicky Akec from Chawente Sub-county in Kwania district said they have a youth cooperative but cried some members still have a poor saving culture.

“At Chawente Sub-county where I hail from, our youth cooperative has 278 members with savings of Shs 278,000 only. The main challenge we are experiencing is a poor saving culture. the young people need to be empowered both intellectually and economically,” she said, urging the government to consider building the capacity of the youth on handling finances.

The Dean of the Diocese of West Lango, the Ver. Rev. Canon Vincent Ogwang reiterated the importance of developing a saving culture. He said a good saving culture is the best tool to fight poverty, but takes discipline and sacrifice.

“It’s hard for an individual to raise the capital needed to run a business, but when you come together in groups and make little savings, you can be able to use this money amongst yourselves at a low interest rate to start income generating activities,” he said.

He gave an example of Centenary Bank which he said started as a Christian saving group but has since grown into a fully-fledged commercial bank in the country. “This should be emulated by the youth other than lamenting about unemployment,” he said.

He also asked the youth to dedicate most of their time to productive work rather than engaging in gambling and rioting on the streets.

 https://thecooperator.news/kumi-rdc-urges-ugandans-to-embrace-saving-culture/

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