Youth storm police post over cash

Losing patience. The youth say their move is ahead of their plan to visit the Office of the Prime Minister to demand for their youth funds.

A group of youth in Masaka Municipality stormed Masaka Central Police Station on Tuesday to notify the Force of their intended plan to invade the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala.

They say their move is intended to demand the money promised to them for development projects.

The group, led by Mr Musa Kabugo, the chairperson of Masaka Municipality Youth Development Association, presented a letter to the district police commander, Eddie Sserunjogi, and asked him to pass it to the Inspector General of Police, Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura.

“We have come to inform the police about our intended visit and that’s why we have written the letter,” Mr Kabugo said.

He added that his group had failed to access the youth development funds, which according to him, was already allocated by the government through the Office of the Prime Minister.
The government in last year’s budget allocated Shs45 billion for youth development projects.

Mr Kabugo noted that last year, the youth told Lt. Gen. Kayihura about the issue, with the IGP promising to facilitate their access to the Office of the Prime Minister, but to date, nothing has happened.

“We would like to talk to the Prime Minister about the problem. And because we don’t want to be tear gassed we have sent this notice.”

The association’s treasurer, Mr Boney Lubega, said: “We were asked to form groups and we formed this one, opened up bank accounts but we are still waiting to access the money. We had planned to start three income-generating projects; poultry, welding and a maize milling machine at Shs174 million, part of which we expected to come from the government.”

Mr Lubega said the group of about 40, will meet on the 15th of this month, to plan for the visit to the Prime Minister’s office.

The southern region police spokesperson, Mr Noah Sserunjogi, urged the youth to remain calm and warned them against lawlessness.

He, however, said the police would pass on their letter to the Inspector General of Police and also work out a peaceful way for them to access the Prime Minister’s office.

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