Youth Council demands for 35% of parish development model funds

KAMPALA – The National Youth Council sitting in Kampala have demanded that the government appropriates at least 35% of the Parish Development Model (PDM) to the youth groups.

In a heated meeting, the youth council resolved to demand from the government that at least 35% of the funds allocated to every parish in the country in the new development approach be allocated to the different youth groups in that parish, and the position be made publicly clear.

The government is yet to roll out the program that would see development funds disbursed to every parish in the new approach to empower households’ transit into the middle-income status as envisaged by 2025.

In a resolution signed by the National Chairperson of the National Youth Council, Jacob Eyeru, the youth urge the government to allocate the funds to the groups, since all the other financing programs like the Youth Livelihood Program and the Youth Venture Capital were wasted.

Eyeru says, “the other programs were not properly handled and the youths ended up not benefiting as the rightful beneficiaries were marginalized. It was politically intended to put the right youths at the side and work with selfish groups.”

The government has held numerous programs to empower the young people, but to no avail as many groups have always complained of trickery, fraud and political infringement during the implementation of such programs.

The most recent programs include; Youth Livelihood, Youth Venture Capital, and the Emyooga projects which have all failed to cause significant differences in the lives of the intended target groups.

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In a recent Parliamentary sitting, the House resolved that the Emyooga program was handled badly without proper research and objectives, despite the good intentions which led to its dismal performance in the countryside.

A couple of rural beneficiaries in the Youth Livelihood Program are until today in jail serving different sentences after being found guilty of financial impropriety, fraud and abuse of public finance.

In the new arrangement, the government is set to roll out the Parish Development Model, in which funds will be disbursed to parishes for appropriation.

The approach was tried in different parishes in the countryside including at Rwengaju in Kabarole district and it was found effective.

In the program, at least Shs. 35m would be disbursed to every parish, from where youth groups will be at liberty to present their collective and individual projects for financing.

With 146 districts in the country, Uganda has at least 10,595 parishes with a total population of slightly above 42 million people at least according to the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics.

The youth council has also demanded for a fresh validation exercise of all the youth groups around the country to avoid chaotic scenes and abuse of the project once started.

The council argues that the leadership of the youths has changed with new office bearers in virtually all jurisdictions, which calls for a fresh validation.

The youth council also recommends that the government uses youth leadership at all levels to sensitize them on issues of access to government projects, mindset changes and sustainability of their different projects.

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