NSSF: Just a bloody carcass for the hyenas that needs to be reformed 

Question: If there had been no law requiring non-government workers to save with the National Social Security Fund, NSSF, how many of you would, of your own volition, line up to put your money there? See? But because putting your money in NSSF is a matter of law, over and above every other consideration, you are a default client of NSSF. No different from a girl who wakes up one morning and is firmly instructed by her father (big stick over her head) to marry “that man over there”, never mind she doesn’t fancy him.
You do not need a prophet to assure you that the day mandatory membership to NSSF is declared bad law, a good number of people will rush for superior alternatives.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination for people to run a monopoly - after all, membership is mandatory and non-compliance (including and especially non-membership for eligible people) is a criminal offence. But when you hear people praising the leadership of NSSF for “achievements”, you’d think the corporation is excelling in a tough, competitive environment. It is as comical as listening to the ruling party, in a country where the law allows only one political party, sing its own praises and declare a ‘resounding victory” in elections and make averments for the party leader to continue in power. 

Everyone needs social security, no argument there. So under other circumstances, NSSF would have been great, had it been a well-run entity, a citadel of integrity where members are sure that the people working there are the best brains possible and are there on merit and no other considerations; and a bastion of creativity, where top brains are constantly innovating for the people with cutting edge solutions. And it would have been okay if NSSF offered proper and meaningful guarantees to its members, rather than a lump sum – which, as everyone has seen in many cases, depending on many factors, including size of the money, ability of the member to improvise and prevailing economic conditions, can be an absolute mockery of social justice in general and social security in particular. It would have been okay, had NSSF not been more than a carcass that the hyenas in the ruling junta are fighting over all the time, with endless tales of scandal. While workers are busy making money the hard way, there is a handful of people who decide what to do with this money; scavengers who waylay the hunters bringing the animal home and snatch it, leaving just the tail and hooves. As matter of fact, the NSSF doesn’t really offer “social security” in the strict terms of the word; it merely offers you some “ka money” when you reach a certain age (guys, really, who still does that?) and when you spend it (in a very short time, just ask anybody if in doubt), you really are done. 

It would be a different proposition if NSSF were a scheme that guarantees a Ugandan a comfortable life in their post-productive years; where all they have to do is sit at the balcony and sip coffee with a settled mind as they watch the sun set in the horizon. But that is far from it. Things are so bad, turns out even those that work there are scared to retire; very much like one who cooks food that he dare not eat or even taste to check the salt levels. There is nothing secure or security-like about NSSF; just a façade where key decisions are made by people sipping porridge or puffing away at cigars and whose interests do not necessarily coincide with those of the workers sweating at work every other day.

The current NSSF approach is really outdated, old-fashioned and absolutely backward; any other body could do the same thing with ease at a lower cost. You’d rather have no social protection than a false cover that gives false hope. The strategic direction of NSSF needs to be fundamentally altered. After years of ‘same old same’, social security should be rethought, redefined and remodeled along a firm paradigm shift that will offer meaningful protection to workers beyond just a one-off lump sum payment. 

Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda     [email protected]