Obey, Kunya pinned on NSSF pension scam

By Betty Amamukirori

MARTIN Onya the acting commissioner in the department of compensations, Ministry of Public Service, has pinned Christopher Obey and Kiwanuka Kunsa on the misappropriation of the sh88b for National Social Security Fund (NSSF) fund.

While testifying before the anticorruption court judge, Lawrence Gidudu, on Friday, Onya said that it was the former Principal Accountant Public Service, Obey and the director research and development, Kunsa who were responsible for statutory budgeting and expenditures.

He told court that the moment the ministry’s accounting officer gets a budgetary circular, departmental heads are asked to come up with their departments draft estimates which are put under strict scrutiny by the planning unit before submitting to the accounting officer for further polishing.

He said the accounting officer then comes with a final draft which is submitted to the finance ministry as ministerial estimates.

“After consideration of the departmental budget drafts by the planning unit, the accounting officer does the final scrutiny to ensure that the drafts are accurate before it is considered as a ministerial estimate,” he said.

Onya said that in all these processes of assessment and verification the duo were directly involved.

When asked by the lead counsel Barbra Kauma who was directly responsible for budgetary planning under the pensions and gratuity department, Onya said that it was Kunsa who was responsible, explaining that though Kunsa was the director research and development, he was also the acting commissioner/accounting officer pensions and compensations department.

Onya, who replaced Kunsa as the head pensions/compensations department, said that even when the budgetary funds were released for expenditure; it was Kunsa who did the budgetary allocations under the department of pensions.

When he was asked whether Public Service budgets and pays for NSSF, he vehemently denied, saying that the ministry has never budgeted for NSSF except for the two financial years when they were all shocked to find it as an item in their budget estimates. He added that the ministry only pays for pension and gratuity.

It is alleged Jimmy Lwamafa, the interdicted Permanent Secretary, Kunsa and Obey converted and disposed of the sh88.2b NSSF fund for purposes unrelated to that for which it was intended, for the benefit of third parties.

They allegedly diverted the money in the two financial years of 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.

When the 56 year old human resource expert was asked how this anomaly made its way into the final budget estimates yet the process of budgeting goes through a lot of scrutiny he distanced himself from the saga.

“It is Obey and Kunsa who are better positioned to answer that. As for me by then I was not involved in the budgeting process in those two financial years,” he answered.

During cross examination by defense lawyers Nathan Osinde, Evans Ochieng, Mubiru Nsubuga and Sam Kyozira, Onya told court that all the three reports public service received from the auditor general indicated that sh88b that was budgeted for as NSSF contribution was never remitted to NSSF.

He said this was even confirmed by a letter public service received from NSSF saying that they never received money to that effect.

Earlier he had also told court that when a local publication ran a story of millions of shillings paid to ghost pensioners, the police stormed Public Service to retrieve the names and files mentioned in the media.

“Unfortunately, out of over 1000 names they managed to trace only 13. The other files were missing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gidudu adjourned the matter to December 8, for further hearing. Lwamafa, Kunsa and Obey have been further remanded.