Don’t disband NSSF, workers tell Treasury

President Yoweri Museveni visits exhibitions on Labour Day. PHOTO | NMG 

In Summary

• Workers are worried that the plan to reform the NSSF Act may put their security savings in jeopardy. This comes even as the Treasury secretary says the matter is already in Parliament

Ntungamo. The chairperson National Organisation of Trade Unions, Mr Usher Wilson Owere, yesterday accused officials from the ministry of Finance of planning to disband the workers savings scheme, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

Speaking on behalf of the workers at the National Labour Day celebrations in Rubaare, Rushenyi in Ntungamo District, Mr Owere warned that the move will call for industrial action. “The workers of Uganda have requested me to report to you that there are two senior officials in the ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development who are hatching a plan of disbanding NSSF through liberalisation of the pension sectors,” he said.

Mr Owere said what they are planning to do has never worked anywhere in the world. “We have resolved to reform the sector and amend the NSSF Act. We would like to warn that should their position not change, it will call for an industrial action,” Mr Owere said.

Secretary to the Treasury Keith Muhakanizi, however, yesterday told off those complaining, saying the Bill is already in Parliament and nothing much can be done.

“Our Bill is very clear and it is in Parliament, I cannot say much right now,” he said. “We are not against NSSF, but rather saying the pension sector needs to be liberalised; opened up, that is all.”

But Mr Owere argued that the performance of NSSF had greatly improved, saying it now takes 10 days for a worker who is a member, to get benefits from the date of application. He said the funds of the workers are very safe and that the interest rate NSSF provides on members’ savings is higher than that offered by banks.

Mr Owere also said the ministry has hired wrong people on the Board of Uganda Benefits and Regulatory Authority. He particularly pointed out the appointment of former Commissioner in Charge of Pensions, Mr Stephen Kiwanuka-Kunsa, to head the Authority, questioning the indiviadual’s past record at the Public Service ministry. “We therefore request that this Board should be disbanded with immediate effect as that the members are not of integrity,” Mr Owere said. (NMG)