The request for 6 billion Shillings from the Gender Minister, Betty Amongi, was improper, according to Peter Kimbowa, the chairman of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Board, who testified before a select committee of Parliament looking into the Fund’s operations.
Kimbowa and other Board members spoke before the seven-member select committee on Wednesday.
The committee was established last week by Speaker of Parliament Anita Among to look into the NSSF activities.
Mwine Mpaka, the head of the select committee, questioned the officials during the meeting to find out if they had accepted the Minister’s 6 billion requests and whether it was legal.
The contentious request was made in a letter from Betty Amongi, the Minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, to the chairman of the NSSF Board, and it called for activities to increase the number of fund savers to be facilitated.
Kimbowa claimed that the Board had not approved the money and that the Minister’s request was irregular.
According to several media reports, since the Fund failed to approve the 6 billion Shillings, Minister Amongi declined to re-appoint the former NSSF Managing Director, Richard Buarugaba.
“The Board is not completely informed of the initiative. Hence the Board has not approved the 6 billion Shillings. The Board has asked management to produce an extensive work plan, and we are also looking at the responsibility matrix that will be tied to this project. We are also looking at how the various activities will be resourced,” the select committee was informed by Kimbowa that this has not occurred.
According to Kimbowa, a work plan is also accompanied by assumptions, and the rules governing voluntary contribution, which do not exist, determine the direction of their action.
The 6 billion was an idea that emerged when they obtained Minister Amongi’s approval of the budget, according to Eng. Silver Mugisha, the chairperson of the SSF Board Finance Committee.
Mugisha said, “When we delivered the budget to the Minister for approval, the feedback was that it was authorized, but there is an idea that you allocate 6 billion for particular things.
Mugisha added that when the Minister proposed the concept, the NSSF management took it before the Finance committee, which decided to assess if it was consistent with the Fund’s financial strategy and proposed spending plan.
When asked about the idea’s originator by MP Mpaka, Mugisha replied that he had seen it in a letter; Kimbowa then responded that the Minister had written; this remark prompted additional queries from the select committee chairwoman over the request’s regularity.
Charles Bakkabulindi, a member of Parliament for workers, also questioned the Fund’s budget submission process.
According to MP Mpaka, the budgeting process is managed by the Board, the investments committee, the investment projects monitoring committee, and ultimately the finance committee.
Hassan Lwabayi Mudiba, a representative of the National Organization of Trade Unions (NOTU) on the NSSF board, responded that it was improper for the Minister to make the budget request.
Following Mudiba’s admission, Kimbowa, the chairman of the NSSF Board, also stated that the 6 billion requests was improper.
The Board was presented with this concept, but the Board did not consider anything until the documents were to come through the standard method of investment research, according to Kimbowa. “We expressed very clearly that the Minister dealing with management on this topic was improper,” added Kimbowa.
Minister Amongi recently stated in a declaration before Parliament that she had approved 6 billion after a work plan was submitted to a board meeting on November 25, 2022.
According to her, the funds are not included in the NSSF’s operational budget for the current fiscal year 2022–2023.