The State Minister of Youth and Children Affairs, Balaam Barugahara, has urged parliament to pardon the youth who failed to pay back the Youth Livelihood Program (YLP) loans. The government has disbursed loans to the Youths under YLP totaling UGX 190.603 billion, however, only UGX 41.299 billion has been repaid.
The YLP, launched in 2014, aims to empower unemployed youth through skills development, livelihood support, and institutional support. The program has benefited over 270,376 youths from 24,115 youth groups with a total disbursement of UGX 190.603bn and only
Similarly, the Uganda Women Empowerment Program (UWEP) has also received significant funding. Since its inception in the 2015/16 fiscal year, the government has disbursed UGX 139.837bn to 231,895 women. However, by today, only UGX 38.208 billion has been recovered
Minister Balaam Barugahara attributed the low repayment rates to politicians misleading the youth and women, telling them the loans were a grant from the government. He specifically accused Iganga Municipality MP Peter Mugema of discouraging the youth from repaying their loans.
However, committee members identified loopholes in the system which is exploited by some beneficiaries to default.
The Minister urged parliament to support his proposal when he was tabling before the cabinet to bail out the defaulting youths by writing off aging debts of 10 years and above. He argued that the government’s approach was not effective at the start, which made it difficult for youths to pay back.
But this proposal has faced resistance from members of parliament who believe it will set a very bad precedent for all government’s revolving funds.
