Youths from several political parties have on Thursday held a peaceful demonstration to mourn the unemployment levels in Uganda as the country celebrated International Labour Day.
The youths have marked Labour Day with a march from Busega to Pan African Square in Kampala against the acute unemployment levels among youths.
The demonstration involved riding bicycles attracted youths from the NRM, the Opposition and Civil Society.
The youths were led by activist Andrew Karamagi, who said the youths have nothing to celebrate about workers day since most of them are unemployed.
Karamagi added that the government has not provided a convenient environment for them to engage in self-sustaining projects yet its interventions like the youth fund have also not yielded fruit.
Uganda is celebrating the day under the theme “Working with the youth to tackle the unemployment problem in Uganda”.
Last year, a new survey named Lost Opportunity by Action Aid Uganda, NGO Forum and Development Research and Training indicated that 80 percent of the unemployed of Uganda’s total population are the youth.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOs) data also indicates that the 5.2 percent of the unemployed in this country are the youths and only 30 percent are employed.
It further indicated that the biggest percentage of youths between the ages of 18-30 years is not in the labour force.
Youths are the energetic population the country has but very old people are still working in big offices when the youths are on the streets looking for the same jobs.
This year’s day celebrations are being held in Ntungamo District where President Yoweri Museveni is the Chief Guest.
