Govt retains NSSF, Public Service pension schemes
State minister for Planning David Bahati (with microphone) launches the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority client charter in Kampala on Wednesday. PHOTO STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
Liberalised. The pension sector has been opened up to allow other players
Kampala.
State minister for Planning David Bahati has said government will maintain the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the Public Service Pension Scheme to allow creation of new schemes and increase domestic savings.
While launching the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) client charter in Kampala on Wednesday, Mr Bahati said: “In 2011, when government created the URBRA, this was the beginning of creating reforms in the pensions sector and this client charter I am launching today is one of such reforms,”
He added: “Government has decided to retain NSSF and the Public Service Pension schemes to guide the reforms.”
He further explained that initially, it was thought that breaking the monopoly of NSSF and the Public Service Pension schemes would allow entry of new players into the pensions sector to increase domestic savings and they wanted civil servants to make contributions to the public service scheme.
Resilient schemes
The minister, however, said government has decided to maintain the two schemes to guide ongoing reforms in the sector because they are the only ones that have stood the test of time.
According to Mr Andrew Kasirye, the board chairman URBRA, the charter sets out standards by which the public should evaluate the performance of the authority using parameters such as customer satisfaction and measurement of performance so as to create trust and confidence in the pension sector as it undergoes reforms.
“We shall uphold ethics of professional standards because it is one thing to bring a charter but another to adhere to the standards. The public should evaluate our level of service and we hope that coming up with this charter will build public confidence and trust in the authority,” he said.
About the regulatory authority
The Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) is a government-owned, semi-autonomous agency responsible for regulating, licensing, supervising, and controlling the retirement sector in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community.
The authority is also responsible for issuing guidelines to allow the liberalization of the retirement sector in the country.
The agency is under the Uganda Ministry of Finance and Economic Development but is semi-autonomous, with a governing board and a management team led by an executive director as the chief executive officer.
