Workers body protests plan to kick reps off NSSF board

By Patrick Jaramogi

The National Organization of Trade Unions (NOTU) has said plans to kick out the workers’ representatives on the National Social Security Fund board will be a hard fought battle.

NOTU chairman, Gen. Usher Wilson Owere Thursday accused some officials in the finance ministry of planning the move to push out the five workers’ representatives from the board.

“We fought very hard to have workers represented on the NSSF board,” Owere said.

“Today the workers money is safe due to close monitoring of the funds. We are not going to allow our representatives be removed from the board.”       

Currently the ten-member NSSF board chaired by Ivan Kyayonka has five workers’ representatives selected from the leading trade unions in the country.

The five who are facing eviction due to lack of qualification are Musa Okello, Henry Mukasa, Agnes Kunihira, Richard Bigirwa and Christopher Kuhirita.

The others are Chris Kasami (PS ministry of finance), Christine Guwatunde Kintu (PS ministry of gender) and Richard Byarugaba, the managing director NSSF.         

Owere named Dr. Fred Muhumuza, the advisor in the ministry of finance as one of the people behind the move to evict the workers representative.

“We are appealing to government to investigate Dr. Muhumuza.”

“The workers’ representatives on the board all have degrees. It is the economists who are stealing workers’ money. That money belongs to sugarcane cutters and must be monitored by workers,” Owere argued.

But Dr. Muhumuza defended himself, describing the allegations as “personal attacks”. 

“We (Finance) wrote to them asking for names. They gave us the names and the minister appointed the board. I can’t have influence on their removal since I don’t appoint them. They have just worked for one month and Mr. Kyayonka is their chairman,” he said.

New Vision online has established that a cross section of workers who contribute to the NSSF wrote to the finance minister complaining about the qualifications of the five representatives on the board.

Owere said workers will be mobilized to protect the shs2.7 trillion portfolio currently with NSSF.

Issues begun to arise after government promised to borrow from the workers’ savings for infrastructural development.

Currently government is the leading borrower of the funds. An additional 1.4 billion is held on government bonds, while shs800 billion is on fixed deposit accounts in leading commercial banks.

A total of shs300 billion has been invested in real estates while shs200 billion is held on stocks.