Make your resolve and just start to move

When President Museveni advises young graduates to become job creators and not job seekers, they dismiss his advice as a clichéd refrain from a decrepit leader. But I think it is high time we considered his words seriously.

There is a lot of disillusionment for the unemployed and the underemployed. The two groups have everything in common. They have dreams of driving nice cars, building your parents a house, marrying a girl of your dreams and taking your children to good schools to give them a solid foundation to compete favourably at a global stage. But all that costs money, a lot of it

The writer (right) with Moses Bagonza

And in a country where mediocrity is rewarded on nepotistic grounds, and meritocracy unappreciated, even the ambidextrous and nobly-intentioned have accepted a corrupt system and underestimated their ability to challenge and defeat it. They have accepted the view that unlike in the times of our parents when a high school certificate was a license to a good life, today not even a doctorate is guaranteed to get you a financially rewarding job unless you know "someone". So they have become proponents of the ends-and-means theory by bribing and doing everything including selling their souls for a job, a promotion and commonly for perishable riches.

Yet all that is bound to change with a new mindset. It is time we recognised that each one of us has a brainpower to do something worthy for his country and for self. It takes some hard thinking and the guts to go all the way. A friend of mine, Moses Bagonza, did it, and agreed to share his story to encourage you:

"I quit my job in July because I have a really bad attitude for employers that don't value employees. Since I set out solo, opportunities have not ceased coming my way –it's just one immediately after the other, mostly from foreigners. My first project was a compostable latrine in Iganga; many laughed at the mere fact that I was building a latrine but I made some good money and some good friends too that are sending me more projects, including building a maternity ward in Fort Portal…now I'm working to incorporate my firm and start bidding next year. My experience has taught me to believe that you will encounter your blessing when you make your resolve and just start to move."