By Sekaggya Seka Moses
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has injected Shs1.2 billion in 12 ghetto SACCOs in Kampala Metropolitan Area.
“I sent Brig. Ddamulira and Kutesa to mobilise you and form SACCOs. They told me that now you have 12 SACCOs in Kampala. I’m injecting Shs100m in each SACCO starting now and this is the beginning. But to get the best of that money you need to work together and be transparent,” Museveni said.
The President made the revelation today while launching the ghetto SACCOs in Kampala Metropolitan Area at Kololo Independence Grounds.
President Museveni also thanked the leaders in Kampala for working hard in ensuring that they bring together and transform the lives of the ghetto youth in Kampala city and neighbouring districts of Wakiso and Mukono.
“In a special way, I want to thank Brig. Ddamulira, Maj. Emma Kutesa and those they work with. I want to thank you for bringing light into the ghetto,” he said.
President Museveni explained that the people of the ghetto are part and parcel of Uganda and they also have a vital role they have to play in the socio-economic transformation of the country.
” The issue of the ghetto youth should not be difficult for NRM because even me, I did a very big job in transforming the ghetto of Katwe in 1968. I was from University, I decided to branch off to Katwe where I got in touch with some ghetto youth at that time,” he revealed.
” During that time, they used to call themselves “Abawejere” with their leader Abbas Kibazo. We worked with them and it was those ghetto people who supported us more when we were fighting Idi Amin.”
President Museveni further urged the ghetto youth to embrace the four sectors of the economy in order to create wealth. He assured them that the government is ready to support them through the State House by skilling and offering them start-up capital.
“We told you already that the medication for poverty has four avenues with the first one being commercial agriculture with calculation and people in the rural areas who listened to our advice are well off. The second way is Industry/factories and artisanship and I want to thank some ghetto people for taking that route,” the President asserted.
“The third way is through services like boda bodas, restaurants, singing, sports like professional boxing. The fourth way is through ICT.”
The Minister of Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs, Hajjat Minsa Kabanda said when she was appointed Minister for Kampala, the President tasked her to transform Kampala and to achieve this, she had to start from the grassroot by involving the ghetto people.
She also requested President Museveni that some ghetto youth are educated and can be employed in government so that they can offer their services to the nation.
“We can use some of the reformed criminals to deal with crime,” Hon. Kabanda said.
Working with the Executive Director of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Ms. Dorothy Kisaka, the Minister also noted that they want to secure land for the ghetto youth to set up greenhouses to grow agriculture products where in turn they will get them market for their products.
“Your Excellency, the ghetto is not that easy but we are trying our best to ensure that we work with these youth to get the best results.”
The Director of Crime Intelligence, AIGP Brig. Christopher Ddamulira informed the President that the beneficiaries are ghetto youth residing and working in 216 ghetto zones and are currently estimated to be 120,000.
“They are organised under the Ghetto Structure that was created in March last year and formally launched by the Minister for Internal Affairs,” Brig. Ddamulira said.
“This mobilisation, Your Excellency, is a collaborative effort by State House through the Office of Comptroller and the Directorate of Crime Intelligence of Uganda Police working closely with other security agencies under Your Excellency’s guidance and support.”
Brig. Ddamulira also disclosed that the Ghetto Structure was created to supplement other existing initiatives by providing a strong and clear mechanism through which these ghetto youth can be mobilised for peace and development.
” Your Excellency, by the time we created this structure, a number of youth lacked the dose of Patriotism and were prone to manipulation by opportunists who used them to commit acts of political violence such as destruction of property, demonstrations, assaulting people of different shades among others,” he noted.
” They lacked the mobilisation to love Uganda and shun politics based on identity such as tribes, religion and gender, among others. We noted that a number of ghetto youths were involved in criminality and needed to be guided through mobilisation by the security agencies.”
Brig. Ddamulira on the other hand, informed the President that the ghetto youth mobilisation was going on well and thanked him for his guidance and support to the ghetto people.
On his part, Maj. Emma Kutesa informed the audience that after the 2021 General elections, President Museveni directed them to stabilise and transform the ghettos of Kampala.
“Your Excellency, you passed the directive through the State House Comptroller where you tasked Brig. Gen. Ddamulira and I to the duty. Since then, Your Excellency we have been working towards fulfilling your directive up to the current state where we are now,” Maj. Kutesa said.
“Your Excellency, we would like to thank you for this initiative. It’s due to your visionary leadership that you managed to sketch out the challenges in the ghetto such as bad politics where the greedy politicians use the bad situation of the ghetto youth to involve them into criminal acts.”
The Chairman of Ghetto Structures, Mr. Shafiq Kalyango lauded President Museveni for supporting and transforming them into good citizens.
” Mzee what you have done for us, we assure you of our unwavering support and we request you to come and stand again for the Presidency in 2026,” he said.
“Mzee now you know what affects us as ghetto youth, we are ready to support you. Many people have been lying, diverting us and manipulating us into doing wrong things but you sent us the right people like Hon. Kabanda, Brig. Ddamulira, Maj. Emma Kutesa among other leaders who have been able to transform us.”
