A 28-year-old man in Kagoma, Wakiso district, has said President Yoweri Museveni’s ghetto initiative is already turning his life around.

After spending years looking for a job without success, Brian Okema was almost giving up when Museveni launched the Presidential Ghetto Initiative, a programme through which the president has been giving out money to youth groups in and around Kampala. Launched last month, the initiative was targeting youth living in slum areas such as Kisenyi, Kamwokya, Kibuye, Nsambya, Kagoma, Busega and Najjanankumbi among others.

Having lost hope of finding employment Okema, a resident of Kagoma, says that the president's initiative to avail carpentry machinery; a skill he has in carpentry arose his desire to work again. This he said had become impossible as his capital was too little to afford such equipment.

"I have for years been looking for jobs but all in vain. I once decided to set up a carpentry workshop because I had the skills but because I had little capital to buy all the equipment, I gave up,” he explains.

 However, with the machines now available, thanks to the president, Okema has started working again and says he can pay house rent, water bills as well as keep the workshop moving unlike the months ago when he depended on relatives for everything.  

"Unlike elsewhere, one here pays according to the work he has done, how much money he can afford. We actually pay 10% of what other workshops demanded for the same work to be done," Okema added.

Being the chairman of Kagoma Furniture Makers Limited, a presidential initiative SACCO for youth empowerment, Chaikon Samson says that these machines especially the thickness plainer, circular saw and spindle rotor machine ease work as one here can spend less time making a bed.

He said: "With these machines, one can make a bed in one hour unlike then where one would make one bed for the whole day and still have it incomplete."

While addressing the media early this month, President Museveni urged the youths to acquire skills and fight poverty in the country. He also said that with such equipment, the youth will add value to their products.

"Ugandans spend more than 18 billion Shillings annually importing all sorts of things and later on cry for jobs yet they are giving away jobs to the people in the countries they are importing from. We even import things like chairs, yet we have the timber here," the president said. The president emphasized that by the youths acquiring skills, dependence on foreign imports will end.

Okema urgees youths to be part of the transforming team and have their practical skills put in action.

"With such a great opportunity to rediscover myself, I so much thank the president for his endeavours and also ask youths to embrace such opportunities," Okema added.

This presidential initiative has been providing machinery for carpentry, welding and metal fabrication and cash as capital. Some groups have received up to 100 million shillings.