An unconcealed plight of the youth: A solution only Deng Xiaoping knew
Military Police personnel arrest one of the youth protestors along Nasser Road in Kampala after he attempted to march to Parliament on July 23, 2024. PHOTO/ MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- We continue to breathe life into the existing Constitution and particularly Chapter 4, which life was lost 30 years ago upon its adoption and we still believe in reawakening a sleeping dragon.
A revolutionary and political theorist who served as the leader of the China between 1978 to 1989, Deng Xiaoping replaced the then pro-Marxist and father of “Maoism”, Mao Zedong, who was responsible for consolidating power and transforming the China economy into a socialist market economy and he was the architect of modern China.
One of the policies that were passed by the then president Deng Xiaoping was the “One-Child Policy” which was implemented between 1979 to 2015.
This policy was to curb the country’s increasing population growth by restricting families to a single child. This policy was initially promoted by Mao Zedong with the use of birth control and family planning in about 1949.
This policy that was strengthened in the entire China in 1980, called upon all people and families to adhere to the one-child policy. This was neither an option nor was it a request. A family was only considered to have another child only if the first born was handicapped.
This particular policy was used to curb the increasing population to which the China economy wasn’t able to sustain in the short and long run.
This policy saw the general reduction in China’s fertility and birth rates after 1980, the drop in the death rate, a rise in life expectancy but an overall decline of China’s rate of natural increase, an increasing in abortions as female fetuses were undesirable over the male fetuses, infanticide of baby girls but most importantly, this policy saw the growing proportion of elderly people, the result of the concurrent drop in children born and rise in longevity since 1980.
This saw a sporadic surge in the numbers of the elderly persons within China as the greater majority of senior citizens in China relied on their children for support after they retired, and there were fewer children to support them.
Domestically as of 2024, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) released the final report of the National Census whose count showed a total population of 45,905,417 Ugandan citizens.
Of these, 72.3 percent are aged 30 and below, representing over 33 million people who are the youth and with this, we shall ascertain that Uganda has the second youngest population in the world. Of these people, 77 percent are under 25 and a substantial 42.6 percent are not in employment, education, or training. Constitutionally speaking, the youth have been marginalised in governance structures, with limited opportunities to participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives and future.
That is to say senior citizens who are approaching the age of 80 years and above are believed to be strong and fit both physically and in mind, together with the capacity to run a constituency, the access to capital and economic opportunities is also limited for the youth potentially due to the elderly’s control over resources and decision-making power, the idea that “inclusive governance” shall remain a myth and never a reality since they do not intend or wish to enjoy the fruits of their hands or what we commonly refer to as retirement benefits through pension and other forms of savings. They surely intend to keep eating their cake and having it too.
This has struck a perception in the minds of the youth as to whether they can, they shall or will ever have a bite off the cherry, let alone ever make ends meet. There is a Rukiga proverb which says “the old tree may still have strong roots, but the young shoot is the one that will reach the sky”.
Since the youth have not been given a say or the requisite opportunity to access the various economic, social and political resources, one might honestly ask whether they surely have a purpose in this arena we call life.
Needless to say, the government that is characterised by the elderly should unanimously agree and adopt the Deng Xiaoping “one-child policy” so that the state is less burdened by the youth that they aren’t able to provide or make room for so that the elderly keep flourishing in the state wealth and great debt burden they call home since there will be a growth in the proportion of the elderly which will then surpass the youth, constitutionally speaking.
We continue to breathe life into the existing Constitution and particularly Chapter 4, which life was lost 30 years ago upon its adoption and we still believe in reawakening a sleeping dragon. Liberties this, freedoms that, rights that.
Ruyooka Murindwa,
