The Katikkiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga, has praised President Museveni for initiating life changing skilling initiatives among the youth.
He said these initiatives are a good step towards fighting unemployment in Uganda.
Mayiga made the remarks during the launch of the Presidential Skilling Industrial Hub for the greater Masaka sub region at Ndegeya Village in Bugabira Parish in Masaka.
The centre, which started operation in February this year, will offer free vocation training to youth aged 18 to 35 years from the nine districts that make up the greater Masaka sub region and Masaka City.
Mayiga urged youths to seek self-development and avoid useless politicking.
"I am very appreciative of this presidential initiative aimed at skilling the youth. The most important thing for anyone is to get what to do and you can only learn what to do when you are still young. I always tell people that the opportunity moves silently but you must have the nose to smell it, you must have the ears to hear it. You even must have the tongue to taste it," he said.
He cautioned those in leadership not decampaign the initiative.
"Matters of development are devoid of ideological inclinations, religiously or even nationalities. If you want to develop, you must be smart and to be smart is to realise the opportunities that come your way. I encourage people to adopt it without political interference, to be trained, to start something, and let us eradicate poverty," he said.
The State House Comptroller Jane Barekye said president Museveni established the hubs with an intention of eliminating unemployment among the young people and changing the economic status of people who never had the opportunity to attain formal education in order to transform Uganda into a middle income economy.
She said Uganda can attain middle income status through imparting skills such as tailoring, hair dressing, brick laying, carpentry among others
"Why don't we join hands because we have to live and our country must grow? This is the way (to transform) other parts of the country and it is the way to other countries. So, we have to join hands and support such programmes (presidential initiatives) that the government put in place," she said.
Masaka industrial training hub brings the total number of such centres in Uganda to 19.
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The presidential initiative in skilling the boy and the girl child (PISGBC) project was initiated by President Museveni in 2017 with the goal of empowering the underprivileged youth between the age of 17-35 years through skilling
After six months of free training, the beneficiaries are examined and awarded certificates from the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT).
So far over 30, 000 youths have so far been trained in different skills under the presidential initiatives and economic development programme and the President ordered that the programme be extended to other districts across the country.
Some of the presidential initiatives under the State House include poverty alleviation, operation wealth creation, skilling of youth, presidential model farms among others.
There are 19 Presidential Skilling Hubs around the country, with 9 in Kampala, 10 distributed in other regions and more are yet to come.
