Court quashes Parliamentary findings against NSSF’s chief finance officer
National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Chief Finance Officer, Mr Steven Mwanje. Photo | Courtesy | NSSF
What you need to know:
- Court documents show that Mr Mwanje had been accused of causing financial loss to NSSF through fraudulent payments
The High Court has quashed Parliament’s Select Committee recommendations on the State of Affairs of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) against its Chief Finance Officer.
The head of the Civil Division, Justice Musa Ssekaana held that the process leading to the resolutions passed by the Select Committee of Parliament against Mr Steven Mwanje, was tainted with illegality since he was not among those to be investigated during the NSSF parliamentary probe, hence null and void.
“A declaration doth issue that the findings, conclusions, and recommendations and/or directives numbered 8, 9, and 25 in the report of the Select Committee on the State Affairs at the National Social Security Fund of February 2023, adopted by Parliament on March 9, 2023 against the applicant (Mr Mwanje) are tainted with illegality, procedural impropriety, offend the rules of fairness and/or natural justice and are null and void,” ruled Justice Ssekaana on October 31.
The facts of the case were that on January 25, 2023, the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among constituted a Select Committee on Affairs at the NSSF.
The terms of reference among others included; an examination of the corporate governance structures at NSSF; an examination of the circumstances surrounding the appointment of NSSF's managing director; and an evaluation of the status and safety of savers' money in NSSF.
Further, court records showed that on March 9, 2023, Parliament adopted the report of the Select Committee and made several resolutions under the title “Resolution of Parliament on the Report of the Select Committee on the State of Affairs at NSSF.
But Mr Mwanje was aggrieved by certain parts of the resolutions of Parliament, particularly the findings, conclusions, directives, and/or decisions, which he said were to affect his rights as they were to lead to the loss of his job and also be criminally prosecuted.
“…Despite these resolutions, the Select Committee and Parliament did not invite me to meet, correct, or contradict the manifestly false but prejudicial demands, statements, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations made against the applicant,” Mr Mwanje said.
He added: “I was neither given notice of the allegations against me, the prejudicial nature and gravity of the consequences of these findings and decisions, which include the potential loss of employment and prosecution, I was entitled to and ought to have been given a fair and reasonable opportunity to address the allegations.”
Court documents show that Mr Mwanje had been accused of causing financial loss to NSSF through fraudulent payments totaling Shs1.43b and also operated as the Chief Financial Officer without a practising certificate.
But Mr Mwanje argued that had he been allowed to give his side of the story before the Select Committee of Parliament, their findings and recommendations would have been different.
“I would not be subjected to police scrutiny. My role as CFO (Chief Finance Officer) is limited to authorizing payments, not making decisions on departmental budgets or activities, which are handled at the Board or department level,” he stated
He added that his duties are set out under the Human Resource Manual of NSSF and the Finance Procedures Manual of NSSF and that none of his roles therein include making and approving the NSSF budget.
“The applicant’s role is restricted to monitoring, managing, and making payments out of the approved budget,” the court documents read in part.
With this court’s ruling, Mr Mwanje won’t be subjected to criminal prosecution and loss of his employment.
