Uganda’s economic story is increasingly becoming a tale of two realities. On one side are impressive speeches about GDP growth, industrialisation and transformation. On the other is an ordinary worker staring at rent, food, transport, school fees and medical bills with an income that can barely carry a household through a week.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics figures make this contradiction difficult to ignore. UBOS reports that median monthly cash earnings for people in paid employment were Shs200,000 in 2023/24. For women, the median was only Shs120,000, compared with Shs272,000 for men.
At such income levels, the question is no longer whether Ugandans are employed, but whether their employment provides a dignified livelihood.
The youth numbers are even more troubling. UBOS estimates that 5.25 million Ugandans aged 18 to 30—50.9 percent, are neither in employment, education nor training.
Uganda has repeatedly celebrated its youthful population as an opportunity, yet a demographic dividend does not arrive automatically. A large young population without productive work can instead become evidence of national planning failure.
This economic desperation has consequences beyond unemployment statistics. When legitimate opportunities become scarce, some young people become vulnerable to exploitation, transactional relationships and what may be described as survival sex.
Poverty does not automatically lead to prostitution, and struggling young people should not be stigmatised. But policymakers cannot pretend that severe economic vulnerability has no influence on the choices people make to survive.
That discussion becomes particularly important against Kampala Capital City Authority’s worrying HIV Report. Rising infections should never be attributed to unemployment alone; HIV transmission has multiple behavioural, social and structural causes.
But economic vulnerability, unstable relationships, exploitation and limited choices deserve attention alongside prevention, testing and treatment. Treating HIV only as a medical challenge while ignoring the economic environment surrounding vulnerable populations risks treating symptoms while neglecting contributing pressures.
Many Ugandans leave the country searching for opportunities they cannot find at home. Some married couples spend years apart as one partner works abroad. Their remittances support children, build homes and sustain families, so labour migration itself should not be condemned.
Yet prolonged separation can strain relationships and, in some circumstances, create conditions for multiple partnerships. Policy maker must therefore ask why survival increasingly requires families to live thousands of kilometres apart?
Government will point to programmes such as Emyooga, the Parish Development Model and other youth initiatives. These programmes may help some households.
But when millions of young people remain outside employment, education or training, isolated interventions cannot be presented as evidence that the underlying problem has been solved.
After four decades under General Museveni, government must be assessed by measurable outcomes. Forty years is enough time to build institutions and an economic system capable of anticipating population growth, developing industries and connecting education to employment.
The Ministry of Finance reported that government recurrent expenditure reached Shs5.35 trillion in July 2026, with Shs2.75 trillion going to interest payments. When enormous resources are consumed by debt obligations while young citizens struggle for employment, questions about national priorities become unavoidable.
Corruption makes the equation harder. Every shilling lost through abuse of public resources potentially denies citizens better schools, healthcare, infrastructure, enterprise support and employment opportunities.
The solution, however, Citizens must Change leadership that strengthens institutions, protects public resources, expands productive industries, supports agriculture and small enterprises, and makes employment creation a measurable national priority. Uganda’s leadership equation belongs to all its citizens!
Author is a social development specialist and CEO Bridge your mind Centre.
Email: bwani.jose@gmail.com
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