Rwenzori Leaders, Security Chiefs Credit Presidential Hubs for Fighting Insecurity

What the report says

Local leaders and security officials in Uganda’s Rwenzori sub-region say the Presidential Industrial Skilling Hubs are helping ease insecurity by steering unemployed and vulnerable young people away from idleness and toward vocational work. The remarks were made during stakeholder meetings at the Rwenzori Sub-region Zonal Presidential Industrial Skilling Hub in Ntoroko and the Rwenzori Zonal Presidential Industrial Skilling Hub in Kasese, chaired by State House Comptroller Jane Barekye.

According to Nile Post, officials linked the hubs to broader security efforts in a region that has faced incidents involving criminal and subversive activity. Kasese District Internal Security Officer Mohammad Ikaaba said some graduates are now contributing useful information to security agencies, while other leaders said the programme has improved beneficiaries’ livelihoods through skills training, start-up support and access to savings and credit groups.

Participants also raised practical concerns about the hubs’ future. They asked for more trades to be added, including mechanical engineering, plumbing and electrical installation, and for more funding for graduates’ SACCOs so they can start businesses. The Commander of the 222 Mountain Brigade also pushed for a model farm under the President’s Four-Acre Model, saying the Kasese hub needs more land for commercial agriculture training. Barekye said more trades would be introduced and that State House would engage Uganda Prisons over land for the project.

The article said officials from the hubs also reported that some graduates have been recruited into the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, and that the programme remains focused on free training for underprivileged youth rather than private sponsorship.