IGG opens fresh probe into NSSF

NSSF managing director Richard Byarugaba and his deputy Geraldine Ssali

What you need to know:

Allegations. A May 5 dossier claims NSSF top managers forked out Shs250m to bankroll Finance minister Matia Kasaija’s parliamentary election campaigns and that this decision was neither discussed nor approved by the board.

KAMPALA.

The Inspector General of Government Irene Mulyagonja has opened fresh investigations into the National Social Security Fund top management for alleged harassment of employees, mismanagement and fraudulent tendering for construction of the second phase of Pension Towers.

Justice Mulyagonja confirmed to Sunday Monitor on Friday that her office had received a dossier dated May 5 detailing the alleged claims. She said she studied the information and concluded that that the gravity of the issues raised warranted investigations. She said there are other complaints that had earlier been filed in her office which would also be investigated together with the fresh allegations.
“It is true investigations have started, and we are in the early stages of gathering documents and evidence,” Justice Mulyagonja told Sunday Monitor.

The May 5 dossier, a copy seen by this newspaper, alleges that corruption is the major cause of the current in-fighting at NSSF between the Managing Director Richard Byarugaba and the board on one side and his deputy Ms Geraldine Ssali on the opposite side. The detailed document claims NSSF top managers forked out Shs250m to bankroll Finance Minister Matia Kasaija’s parliamentary election campaigns and that this decision was neither discussed nor approved by the board.
Mr Kasaija described the allegation as “nonsensical” and said he was ready to face the investigators and get the chance to prove that the claims are absolute lies.

“I have served government the whole of my life and have never stolen any coin. Now, I am approaching my 70’s, so why would I steal at old age?” Mr Kasaija wondered.
The whistleblower in the document to the IGG alleges that the cumulative antagonism between Mr Byarugaba and her deputy Ms Ssali is over money and power but has been escalated by the desire to control the Pension Towers construction project.
Ms Ssali returned to office this week after being blocked several times since the controversial suspension in March and the subsequent reinstatement order by the High Court.

“In December 2014, Ms Ssali (while acting MD when Mr Byarugaba was out of office after expiry of his contract and before it was renewed) with the approval of the old board [led by the late Ivan Kyayonka) reduced the bill of construction of the Pension Towers from Shs227 to Shs118.5b,” the document too IGG reads in part. “However when Byarugaba returned, he again hiked the bill.
When contacted on Friday, Mr Byarugaba said he was not aware of the investigations but said he would cooperate with the IGG investigators they come.
“The IGG has not written to us that they will investigate anything but I will cooperate,” Mr Byarugaba told Sunday Monitor on Friday.

The latest investigation comes barely two years after the ombudsman issued a report of earlier investigations in 2013 into allegations of corruption and fraud involving 24 projects.
In that report, the IGG recommended punishment of Mr Byarugaba for causing Shs100m loss to NSSF. The IGG also recommended punishment of former NSSF corporation secretary David Nambale for similar reasons. However no action was taken.
The ongoing feuding between Mr Byarugaba and the new board chairman Patrick Kaberenge on one side and Ms Ssali on the exploded in March after the board forcibly sent Ms Ssali on leave, accusing her of gross insubordination contrary to the Fund’s Human Resources Code of Conduct.
She petitioned the High Court which halted her suspension and ordered her reinstatement until the petition was heard and disposed of.

Although Ms Ssali’s refusal to go on leave seemed to have kicked up the storm, inside sources indicate that this was a mere culmination of the long time antagonism between her and Mr Byarugaba and mutual suspicions on various NSSF projects, with the most contentious being construction of phase two of the Pension Towers, a 25-storey building along Lumumba Avenue in Nakasero.
Phase one was contracted to Roko Construction at Shs120b in 2008. The phase was supposed to be completed in two years, but took longer after a retainer wall collapsed later that year, killing seven workers and leaving scores injured. At the beginning of 2009 the project cost had risen to Shs147b until completion in 2012.

For the second phase, NSSF retendered the project and awarded the contract to China Civil Engineering and Corporation (CCECC) at Shs222.3b in 2012. However other dissatisfied bidders petitioned the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) citing foul play and corruption in the process. The PPDA investigated the claims and issued a report in September 2012 and copied it to the IGG.
In the report PPDA directed the NSSF board to reevaluate 17 bids that had been submitted for the contract and fresh bidding process be initiated.

The IGG canceled CCECC’s tender which was said to be Shs20 billion higher than that of another Chinese firm, China National Aero-Technology International Engineering contrary to the procurement law.
After investigations the IGG recommended the “the whole bidding process for Phase 2 to be cancelled owing to the amount of the information about it that had gone out to various bidders, staff of various institutions involved in review processes and the general public, as well as persistent allegations of corruption.

The then board chairman [late Ivan Kyayonka] however engaged the IGG Justice Mulyagonja to “relax” some of the recommendations. The board also requested to be allowed to bring back Roko to the project, which was granted.
The project was shelved but in 2013 after Mr Byarugaba’s departure after expiry of his contract, Ms Ssali while acting as the MD, initiated fresh negotiations with Roko to reduce the Shs227 billion cost of the project by 20 percent. She flagged off the project, but still it did not take off.

When Mr Byarugaba returned to office the project resumed but this time by an additional Shs70 billion to the cost.
Speaking at the launch of the launch of NSSF 30th anniversary celebrations last December, Mr Byarugaba indicated that construction of Phase two earlier slated to start in August 2012 and be completed by December 2015, would instead start in June 2016 and the price would rise to shs290b from Shs220b because of the depreciating Shilling.
The board chairman Mr Kaberenge told this newspaper in an interview that an independent consultant had advised them to retain Roko, which undertook phase One to carry on with the second phase of the project.