By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Parliament has finally passed the long awaited controversial National Social Security Fund (NSSF) bill allowing midterm access of members to their benefits.
According to chairperson of the Joint Committee of Gender and that of Finance Agnes Kunihira, members who have clocked 45 years and have contributed to the fund for a period of ten years will be eligible to a 20 percent of their savings.
For almost two years Parliament has been at logger heads with the executive over the long awaited National Social Security Amendment bill 2019 which promoted workers’ Member of Parliament Dr. Sam Lyomoki to spend nights within the parliament chambers protesting the delay to pass the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Bill.
The legislator carried a mattress, mosquito net, and made himself ‘comfortable’ inside the chambers, vowing he will call the place home until the Bill is passed.
But the Wednesday parliamentary sitting chaired by Speaker Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga saw the legislators pass the bill with clause 10 that grants midterm access of members to their savings.
Under this clause, any one who has saved with the fund for a period of 10 years and the one that has clocked 45 years will all be allowed to access 20percent of their savings
Following the passing of the bill, Agnes Kunihira and Sam Lyomoki noted that the passing of this same clause will give a lee way to a person who is disabled and has lost his job to access his or her savings to a maximun of 75 percent though it had been opposed by the Minister Mwesigwa Rukutana.
In January 2019 Lyomoki and a section of legislators started a process for the amendment of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Act of 1985 to allow workers’ access their savings before the age of 50.
The passed bill will also see two ministries, Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development and that of the Ministry of Finance manage the operations of the National Social Security Fund.
Parliament however deleted clause 13 of the bill that was to provide a leeway for the mandatory borrowing of money from the fund by the government.
