No contention over NSSF supervision, says gender PS

SAVINGS | LEADERSHIP                                                     

KAMPALA - There is no contradiction regarding oversight over the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), the ministry of gender, labour and social development has said.

A bill seeking to amend the NSSF Act 1985, currently under scrutiny by Parliament, proposed the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to be in charge of social security policy and compliance while the Finance ministry would oversee the fund's investments.

Earlier this month, however, it emerged that President Yoweri Museveni had rejected a proposal to split oversight over the fund, directing that the fund should be wholly under supervision of Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Museveni, in his letter to the Speaker of Parliament on October 4, said the transfer of oversight over the fund from gender to finance was premised on prudent management of the huge fund

He noted that the finance ministry has the capacity to review NSSF decisions and ensure that they are sound business-wise and free of corruption.

The directive, tabled before Parliament during a debate on the bill, elicited sharp disagreement with some lawmakers insisting that the fund should be under the supervision of the gender ministry.

James Ebitu, the gender ministry's permanent secretary, on Wednesday argued that there was no contradiction arising from its placement, irrespective of whichever ministry oversees it.

"We are one government. We (gender) have expertise in terms of policy while finance has expertise in terms of investment. We can support finance in terms of policy," he said.

The fund manages a savings portfolio worth sh13 trillion today. The fund is the biggest holder (over 50%) and buyer of Government of Uganda bonds.

The proposed amendments come at a time when NSSF is facing pressure to ease access for savers to their savings as government measures to control the COVID-19 bite hard.

Incessant calls for some relief through their NSSF savings have come from employees whose employment was terminated due to closure of businesses or significant losses in earnings.