The Minister of State for Sports, Peter Ogwang, has encouraged student leaders to embrace tolerance as an essential quality for attaining success and benefiting from their efforts.
He emphasized that as leaders, it is vital to promote inclusivity and understanding, asserting that tolerance is key to fostering a harmonious and productive atmosphere.
This, in turn, will empower them to reach their objectives and positively influence their communities.
Ogwang also pointed out that today’s youth often hold the belief that the government can resolve all the challenges they encounter, which limits their ability to think creatively and independently.
“Today, the young people don’t have the patience and persistence, if I was not patient enough, do you think, I would be where iam today, having told you the challenges I went through while growing up. I would have become a highway robber because at the end of the day, I would have thought of a quick fix but here i am, so the young people who are here before me, can we accept that the role of the government is to produce a conducive environment for investment, and good infrastructure so that the investors come here and eventually create jobs,” he added.
He made the remarks on Friday while delivering a discourse of opportunity at Nkumba University where over 700 student leaders are undergoing a two-week Patriotism training program.
He added “ Stop believing that government will provide everything for you, me i was from a poor background who paid my own school fees, sold fish at streets of Matugga,I also became a taxi conductor but if I may ask, where was my member of parliament,”
He tasked the youth to acknowledge their roles in building the nation urging them to prioritize on wealth creation government initiatives like Parish Development Model which are intended to eradicate poverty and include every household in the money economy across the country.
Ogwang cited an example of President Yoweri Museveni who at a youthful age, managed to mobilize the people from his region to shift from local to modern ways of living.
“My fellow young people who are here, one time, President Museveni you are seeing today was once a young man like me and you. At s.6 he decided to go back to his region to mobilise peasants to begin to engage in modern ways of living,” he stated.
He went ahead to encourage the leaders to stop blaming the government as the root cause of all problems encountered by Ugandans saying that they should rather own the blame as leaders him inclusive.
Ogwang noted that the problem of Uganda not President Yoweri Museveni but the leaders “me among them”.
“No wonder now when we talk about government problems, how many understand and they are able to mobilize your communities so that they benefit from the government initiated wealth creation programs. Are you aware that 30% of the PDM money is for you the youth, how many have taken an initiative to take part, you are just spectators you are only waiting to criticize the government forgetting that you are using the public road because if not how did you reach in Nkumba to attend this training,” he noted.
The training program which was organised by the National Secretariat for Patriotism Corps ( NSPC) under the stewardship of Commissioner Hellen Seku and State House Uganda, commenced on January 3, 2025, with the aim of equipping student leaders with the necessary leadership skills and knowledge to become informed and patriotic leaders of tomorrow.
The training emphasizes the importance of civic responsibility and encourages young leaders to actively participate in building a better future for Uganda.
President Museveni and First Lady and Minister of Education Janet Museveni will officially close the training on January 17.
