Byarugaba sues Amongi over NSSF job

Nearly two months after the sector minister, again, rejected his reappointment as chief executive at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Mr Richard Byarugaba, has refused to take no for an answer and has dragged Ms Betty Amongi and the government’s top lawyer  to court.

Counsel for Mr Byarugaba on Wednesday, August 9, filed a suit in the High Court, Kampala, seeking orders to compel Labour and Gender minister Amongi to complete his reappointment as NSSF managing director as recommended by the board.

In the lawsuit, Mr Byarugaba suggests that the decision by the minister not to endorse his reappointment was malicious, given her known bias against him.

He says Ms Amongi has shown her bias on many occasions where she acted as accuser, prosecutor and ultimately, a judge in matters relating to his job at the Fund.

Mr Byarugaba has asked that the court issues orders whose effect would be to force the minister to enforce the board’s recommendation for his contract’s renewal, effective December 1, 2022.

His prayer is that the High Court will rule that “an order of certiorari issue, calling the decision of the 2nd respondent (Minister Amongi) communicated by the letter dated 30th June, 2023, to the chairman of the board of the National Social Security Fund, which rejected the recommendation by the board for the reappointment of the applicant (Mr Byarugaba) to the position of managing director and further purported to direct the board to commence a new process of recruitment for the said position”.

Secondly, he seeks a ruling that “an order of mandamus issue, directing the 2nd respondent (Minister Amongi) to discharge her statutory duty to complete the reappointment of the applicant to the position of managing director of the National Social Security Fund as recommended by the board and required by the law”.

In his affidavit in support of the suit, Mr Byarugaba says on November 29, 2017, he was appointed Fund MD for his first five-year term, which term expired on November 30, 2022. He faults the minister for unilaterally attempting to relieve him of the job mid-stream into his second term.

“Even before my second contract could run its course, the 2nd respondent (Minister Amongi) attempted to bring it to a premature end. By letter addressed to me, the 2nd respondent claimed that I was supposed to have automatically retired upon reaching the age of 60 years, without reference to the Attorney General for advice, she ordered me to cease serving as managing director...

“That it is only due to the intervention of the Attorney General’s office that I was able to complete my second term in office. I know the aforesaid attempt to prematurely retire me occurred after the board of directors of NSSF had recommended to the 2nd respondent that Mr Patrick Ayota, the deputy managing director, and I be granted new contracts effective December 1, 2022,” he adds.

The affidavit goes on to list down some of the considerations that Mr Byarugaba thinks the board took into account when they recommended him for another term. Among these are the dramatic achievement in increasing the Fund’s membership to over two million, and multiplying its portfolio many times over to now stand in excess of Shs17 trillion.

“That we had demonstrated exceptional stewardship of the Fund’s widely acknowledged positive transformation in areas such as technology, human capital, innovation, customer obsession and sustainability,” he adds in affidavit testimony.

He continues: “On November 25, 2022, the board of NSSF wrote to the 2nd respondent once more, reminding her of the unresolved issue of our reappointment. They reiterated their recommendation to reappoint us to our respective positions for terms of five years each. I’m also aware that the permanent secretary, Gender ministry sought advice from the Attorney General regarding my eligibility for reappointment as managing director, and in response said there was no legal bar to my reappointment if the board recommended.”

Further in his lawsuit, Mr Byarugaba says despite the advice of the government’s chief legal adviser, the minister chose to only renew the contract of Mr Ayota by letter dated November 30, 2022, before deferring his reappointment.

He also states that following a meeting at State House, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja wrote, though without success, to Ms Amongi indicating that she concludes his reappointment as directed by President Museveni.

“The Prime Minister then guided the 2nd respondent (Minister Amongi) to act on the recommendations of the NSSF board and complete my reappointment. The Prime Minister pointed out that the reappointment was to be made with due expedition in the best interest of the Fund,” the affidavit reads.

Mr Byarugaba avers that the minister harboured a vendetta against him to the extent of lodging a complaint with the Inspector General of Government (IGG), repeating false and unfounded allegations against him, and that ombudsman has since exonerated him.

“The decision not to reappoint me was irrational in-so-far-as it ignored the substantive outcome of the report of the IGG, which cleared me of a myriad allegations levelled against me by the 2nd respondent (Minister Amongi), and in effect, vindicated the board’s recommendations that I had met the statutory standard for reappointment with regard to my previous performance in office,” he said.

“… the 2nd respondent raised various hitherto unknown and undisclosed allegations about me, including allegations of financial impropriety, alleged collusion with contractors, corruption allegations, alleged defiance of presidential and Attorney General directives, alleged misrepresentation of facts and many others,” Mr Byarugaba says in reference to Ms Amongi’s complaint with the IGG.

By press time last evening, the court had not yet invited either Ms Amongi or the Attorney General to file their response following which a hearing date would be fixed.

The lawsuit comes four weeks after Daily Monitor published an exclusive story on July 19 reporting how Ms Amongi on June 30 wrote to the NSSF board chairman, Mr Peter Kimbowa repeating her rejection of the board’s November 2022 recommendation to re-appoint Mr Byarugaba.

She observed then that, if reappointed, he would continue to undermine her as minister responsible for the Fund.

She also informed Mr Kimbowa that her decision was informed by findings of investigations into alleged mismanagement at NSSF, carried out by both the IGG)and Parliament. Ms Amongi therefore instructed the board to recruit a new managing director. The letter was copied to the Prime Minister, Attorney General and Finance ministry, which co-supervises the Fund alongside Ms Amongi’s Gender, Labour and Social Development ministry.

“…The reports of Parliament and IGG are sufficient for us to make a decision on his employment with NSSF and the period allowable for someone to act in a position for six months has expired which calls on us to recruit a new MD,” the letter stated, adding: “Against that background, I now would like to notify you that your recommendation to me to renew Mr Richard Byarugaba’s contract as managing director has been declined.”