Youth abandon Shs300m centre

Locals stand outside the main building at the centre. Management wrangles have seen youth abandon the centre. PHOTO BY Dan Wandera

What you need to know:

Pulling ropes. Different stakeholders are fighting for the facility’s management.

Luwero.

A multi-million youth centre equipped with sports facilities at Katikamu Sub-county in Luweero District has been abandoned by the youth as different stakeholders point to existing management wrangles between the youth, district authorities and Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU).

The centre
The Youth Centre Project, built by Plan International at an estimated cost of Shs300 million with fully equipped sports courts for tennis, volleyball and baseball in 2012, has faced management issues between youth leaders, Luweero District officials and branch officials of RHU.

The powers of the youth to take charge of the centre were usurped by RHU, who currently occupy part of the facility. Many youth now think the centre is for Reproductive Health Uganda, yet the project took into account youth activities, including sports”, Ms Victor Nabukenya, the Woman Youth councillor, told Daily Monitor on Tuesday.

Katikamu LC3 chairman Samuel Serunjogi said the youth were supposed to work hand in hand with RHU and the district authorities to maximise usage of the centre, a system that has failed to work.

“Reproductive Health Uganda claimed they wrote the proposal to have the centre built for the youth and are in the best position to manage some of the activities at the centre. We only need clear guidelines to bring on board all our youth to ensure that they benefit from this facility,” Mr Serunjogi told this newspaper.

RHU speaks out
Mr Henry Kimbowa, a reproductive health worker and youth counsellor attached to Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), said some youth have been misled and denied the opportunity to enjoy the facilities at the centre by self-seeking individuals.
“It is wrong for anybody to claim that the youth are not allowed to use facilities at this centre yet it was put in place for the purpose of the youth activities,” Mr Kimbowa said.

He added: “We have a problem with some of the leaders in Luweero District who do not want to associate themselves with activities carried out by RHU. We need to sensitise our parents and children on some of the activities at the youth centre to ensure that they are used.”