Youth in Rubirizi district have failed to pay back loans advanced to them under the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP).
Only Shs 169 million has been recovered out of an allocation of Shs 600 million given to the 20 benefiting groups in the district. District officials say that efforts to recover the money from the groups have so far yielded no fruit.
Rubirizi chief administrative officer, Nasser Mukiibi says that the failure by the groups to pay back the money threatens opportunities for other groups that had submitted applications to benefit from the same programme.
The Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) is a government programme targeting the poor and unemployed youth in all the districts in the country. The programme worth Shs 265 billion is implemented under the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.
Anthony Bigirwamukama, the Rubirizi district youth chairperson told our reporter that the district leadership is concerned about the failure to have the monies repaid. He says that the district has also tried to reach out to the groups to ensure that the said money is recovered.
Bigirwamukama added that some youth have since disappeared from their homes after realizing that they would be compelled to repay the money.
Mathias Baryeijuka, a resident of Katerera in Rubirizi, however, blames the sub-county chiefs and other technocrats for what he refers to as corruption.
He says that the youth had to first bribe officials before having their proposals approved and that they were also misled that the funds were a token of appreciation from the president.