By Aggrey Baba
As the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) members and officials gathered at Serena Hotel in Kampala on Thursday for the Fund’s 14th Annual Members’ Meeting, Gender, Labour and Social Development Minister Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde used the occasion to raise difficult questions about how workers’ hard earned savings are being governed and invested.
Before delivering his official speech, Tumukunde turned his attention to the NSSF board, chaired by Dr David Ogong, and the Fund’s management under Managing Director Patrick Ayota, questioning whether the people entrusted with overseeing people’s money have the competence required for such a responsibility.
Tumukunde particularly questioned the current arrangement under which trade union leaders can find their way onto the board, arguing that union leadership alone should not be enough to qualify someone to supervise an institution holding people’s savings worth tens of trillions of shillings.
His argument was that workers must still be represented, but their representatives should have the necessary knowledge and competence to understand the financial and investment decisions placed before the board.
Known for being a man who speaks his mind, Tumukunde also questioned how board members can effectively assess the competence of professionals they are expected to supervise if they themselves do not have the technical competence to properly interview or scrutinise such people.
He acknowledged that his remarks were blunt, but insisted that the issue could not be avoided simply because it was uncomfortable.
He also raised questions about the presence of government officials, including Permanent Secretaries, on the board, particularly where their government responsibilities could overlap with decisions involving NSSF funds.
According to the minister, government will have to examine some of these arrangements and possible conflicts of interest as it reviews the way the Fund is governed.
His concerns went beyond the composition of the board, further challenged NSSF’s approach to measuring success, warning that the Fund cannot simply point to the continued growth of its assets and conclude that everything is working well.
NSSF’s assets have grown to about UGX32.8 trillion, but Tumukunde argued that part of this growth can naturally come from the expansion of the economy, increased contributions and other factors outside the direct performance of the Fund’s managers.
He therefore wants NSSF to demonstrate what it is doing with the money after collecting it from workers.
The minister’s concern was that NSSF should not become a mere custodian of workers’ savings, whose main achievement is protecting and accumulating the money while waiting for the economy to grow.
Instead, he said NSSF should use its large pool of long-term capital to play a bigger role in the country’s economic development, while still protecting its members’ money.
He went further to question the division of responsibilities between the Ministry of Gender and the Ministry of Finance in relation to NSSF, arguing that his ministry, which appoints the board and is responsible for protecting workers’ interests, cannot simply approve a budget and then remain detached from how the money is ultimately spent.
His intervention effectively turned part of the annual meeting into a governance conversation, with the minister questioning not only how much money NSSF has accumulated, but also whether the institution’s leadership structure is strong enough to manage that money and whether the Fund is deploying it in a way that delivers a wider economic benefit.
The remarks also put fresh focus on the responsibilities of the board and management at a time when NSSF is presenting itself as an increasingly important source of long-term capital for the economy.
Tumukunde further warned that workers and their representatives must also take responsibility for ensuring that those entrusted with their money have the competence to protect it.
His position was that workers can’t merely demand effective protection of their money while accepting a governance system in which competence is not given sufficient weight.
The minister said he was prepared to pursue the issues further, even where doing so meant confronting established arrangements within the Fund.
His intervention came before his official address, making it the most striking moment of Thursday’s meeting, which otherwise focused heavily on NSSF’s financial performance, growth and future plans.
The questions raised by Tumukunde now put the spotlight on how NSSF’s board is constituted, how effectively it exercises oversight over management and whether the Fund’s growing financial muscle is being translated into the wider economic impact expected from workers’ savings. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
