Uganda’s Skills Hubs Face Expansion Push as Iganga Seeks Its Own Centre

An opposition-backed district chairman in Uganda is asking President Yoweri Museveni’s government for more of a programme he says is helping unemployed young people build businesses. Shabiru Isabirye Kalulu, the Iganga District chairman and a supporter of the National Unity Platform (NUP), wants a vocational training hub in his district. His request puts demand for practical skills ahead of party loyalties, according to Nile Post Uganda (direct).

Isabirye made the appeal at a meeting of leaders and programme officials at the Busoga Zonal Presidential Industrial Hub in Nakabango, Jinja City, where he chairs the board. Participants reviewed the centre’s performance, challenges and support for trainees across the Busoga sub-region. Isabirye praised the combination of free training, accommodation and meals, saying it gives young people a route into self-employment. He encouraged people aged 18 to 35 to enrol and use their skills to create work for themselves and others.

More training centres, but a location gap

The immediate expansion announced at the meeting concerns Bugiri, rather than Iganga. Engineer Raymond Kamugisha, State House’s head of presidential projects and industrial hubs, said Museveni had approved another hub in Busoga, to be built in Bugiri District. He asked local authorities to identify and secure suitable land. Isabirye separately asked State House Comptroller Jane Barekye to take his request for an Iganga facility to the president, arguing that another centre would help meet regional demand for vocational training.

The existing Busoga hub was commissioned by Museveni in January 2025. The national programme teaches trades including welding, carpentry, construction, tailoring, hairdressing and shoe-making. State House says learners receive training materials as well as food and accommodation without charge. In June 2026, it announced plans for 17 additional hubs alongside a sixth intake of 4,560 trainees across the existing 19 centres. State House says the hubs have already trained thousands of young Ugandans.

Hosting a centre does not give a district more training places, Kamugisha said. He rejected claims that host districts receive preferential allocations, saying the same criteria and numbers apply regardless of location. The additional gains for a host district, he said, are the infrastructure that comes with the facility, including buildings, roads or electricity. Isabirye also sought improvements at the current Busoga centre: better walkways, additional structures and more vehicles for transport and outreach.

Small operating costs become a funding issue

Support after training was another concern. Barekye asked district leaders to provide office space for SACCOs, savings and credit co-operatives formed by programme beneficiaries. State House would help furnish those offices once space was available, she said. She also announced plans to give each hub’s co-operative about Shs500,000 as an operating advance for communication, stationery and transport, with spending subject to accountability. Some co-operative leaders and beneficiaries had been paying those costs themselves, according to Barekye.

Isabirye said his political affiliation should not stop him backing services that benefit residents. Although he had stood as the NUP candidate, he said his responsibility was to the people who elected him. Barekye similarly said the hubs were intended to serve Ugandans across political lines and praised the Busoga centre’s leadership.

Isabirye said district leaders should put residents’ needs ahead of party politics when delivering services.

The next practical steps are securing land in Bugiri and finding office space for beneficiaries’ co-operatives. For Iganga, the distinction remains important: its chairman has requested a hub, while the approval reported by Kamugisha applies to Bugiri. The proposed upgrades to the existing Busoga centre and operating support for its beneficiaries are further measures to watch.