By KT Reporter
For Paul Okello, a graduate of Public Administration and Management, the road to employment has been a marathon with no finish line.
Since 2011, he has navigated a grueling cycle of applications and interviews, appearing on nine different shortlists for government positions across Northern Uganda.
Yet, in Uganda’s current economic climate, being “qualified” is no longer enough; one must also be “funded.”
What used to be a standard administrative process has become a significant financial barrier. Every time Okello applies for a role, he faces an immediate “application tax.”
Between photocopying, printing passport photos, and traveling to advertising agencies, he spends at least 100,000 Shillings per attempt.
The real sting, however, comes from a new, compulsory requirement: verification of Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) documents directly by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
UNEB charges 50,000 Shillings per document for certification. For a single job application, a candidate must pay 100,000 Shillings just to prove they passed their O-Level and A-Level exams.
Okello notes that the application process sometimes demands more than the monthly salary of the very positions being advertised. The burden isn’t just official; Okello also reveals a darker side of the hunt: a thriving “bribery economy.”
He recalls being asked for 4 million Shillings to secure a Parish Chief role in local government. Even through classmates and connections, the “help” often comes at a steep price—in one instance, he was asked for 1.7 million Shillings.
Julius Obongo, another graduate, points out the irony: after parents sell ancestral land and livestock to fund tuition and UNEB registration fees, the state demands even more money the moment their children seek to repay that investment through work.
At the time parents expect their children to get jobs, these high demands leave young people deeply frustrated.
For Jennifer Harriet Achom, a Procurement and Logistics graduate, the seven-year job hunt became so soul-crushing that she abandoned it for the informal business sector. Her verdict is blunt: “Job hunting in this country is more taxing than the education itself.”
The government maintains that these levies are a necessary evil.
Dr. Rose Nassali Lukwago, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, argues that requiring certified documents is the only way to curb the rampant forgery of academic papers during recruitment.
Similarly, UNEB spokesperson Jennifer Kalule defends the 50,000-Shilling fee as a “service charge” required for officers to manually trace archives within tight deadlines.
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with over 75% under 30. Youth aged 18–30 face much higher unemployment rates than adults, with some estimates indicating that over 60% of young people are unemployed or in vulnerable employment.
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