The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has come under fire from various sections of the public after claiming that it has no money available for lump sum payments if parliament passes the NSSF Amendment Bill.
This was disclosed on Thursday by the fund’s Managing Director Richard Byarugaba while meeting Members of Parliament on the Gender, Labour and Social Development Committee.
But various Fund savers have hit out at the Fund, accusing its managers and the Ministry of Finance, the supervisor, of lack of sensitivity to the plight of the savers severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dismas Nkunda, the the Founder and Executive Director of Atrocities Watch Africa, an NGO, said NSSF has become a business entity and not a people’s entity.
“NSSF is set out to have Ugandans at heart. When they claim that they don’t have the money we painfully give them every month, the question is, why? I think NSSF has become a business entity and not a people’s entity. Why would other countries borrow NSSF money? Aren’t there businesses in Uganda that would take advantage of these loans from NSSF?” he wondered.
Kelvin Omukungu tweeted: “Does the NSSF consult the Parliament wen making decisions on people’s savings?. If we had a working parliament…NSSF bosses would be grilled in oversight televised hearings. You don’t play with peoples savings. Overstay in power has consequences.”
Mwesigye Samantha, a former State Attorney, tweeted: “Imagine paying 30% income tax to the Government and it goes around and also borrows your 15% mandatory savings from NSSF! This Country can test!”
Salim Wakabi added: “This whole NSSF saga of having no money directly hits the middle class since they are the biggest savers in NSSF. The middle class has over time decided to remain apathetic over societal issues. Like Aristotle said, Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.”
Baker Batte, a journalist, said: “I think these decisions arise because most people who make these decisions do not actually save with NSSF.”
Parliament is scrutinising the National Social Security fund -NSSF Amendment Bill 2021 after it was returned to the House by President Museveni.
The President noted that only people above 45 years old and who have saved for over 10 years can access 20 per cent of their savings, saying anything else would be unsustainable for the fund. The president also disagreed with the proposal in the bill to allow Persons living with disabilities to access up to 75 per cent of their savings.
Byarugaba told the MPs on Thursday that the fund is unable to pay all their members at a go because all of their money is invested in the region.
He said that this year they were planning to pay 932 billion shillings to its members, but if the bill is passed, they will need to pay 1.8 trillion shillings for only this year.
He said that they may need to pay members in a staggered manner prioritizing those in urgent need of the money.