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AG Kiwanuka backs NSSF on housing loans
The Attorney General (AG) Mr Kiryowa Kiwanuka. PHOTO/ DAVID LUBOWA
National Social security Fund (NSSF) members are not eligible for the mortgage and housing loan benefit, the Attorney General (AG) has said.
Mr Kiryowa Kiwanuka, who is currently out of the country, said the Fund is not among those envisaged under the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) Act, 2011.
Finance minister Matia Kasaija, on Tuesday launched the URBRA Assignment of Retirement Benefits for mortgages and loans regulations that operationalise provisions of the law.
The regulations announced allow a person who has been a member of a retirement scheme regulated by URBRA for a decade to mortgage or borrow against up to 50 per cent of their accrued benefits.
Mr Richard Byraugaba, the NSSF managing director, in response on Wednesday, said the NSSF Act, which governs the Fund prohibits any charging or assignment of a member’s benefits to a third party, constraining the Funds ability to offer the benefit. In a rejoinder, URBRA’s chief executive officer Martin Nsubuga said NSSF must comply with the “supreme” URBRA Act, 2011. Mr Kiwanuka, who is the chief government, advisor, yesterday said he does not see any contradiction in the law, adding that the URBRA Act does not govern the Fund.
“I have looked at it (the laws) and my office is of the view that there is no contradiction. I am of the view that NSSF was not the kind of Fund anticipated under the URBRA Act,” he said.
The AG’s opinion means if NSSF savers are to benefit from the mortgage benefit, the Act, only amended last year to grant member mid-term access would have to be revised again. Kasaija during the launch had touted the new benefit as a possible relief to the housing deficit that is estimated at 2.4 million. The locking out of NSSF savers has left the public questioning the significance of the regulations.
