Savers to wait longer for NSSF cash

But a mix of factors, including bureaucracy, timelines, and prerogatives attached to the documents and rollout of access to the cash, may make it impossible for savers to access their mid-term cash before March.
The document provides for up to 20 percent mid-term access to social security cash for those above 45 years and have saved with NSSF for at least 10 years. 

PWDs
In the same document, persons with disabilities (PWDs), who have saved with the Fund for more than 10 years, can access up to 50 percent of their accrued savings.

The document also lifts restrictions on access to saving with the Fund for voluntary depositors.
Whereas some savers had expected mid-term access to their cash as early as Christmas, the Government Chief Whip, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, has told Saturday Monitor that Mr Museveni is still studying the contents of the document.

“It has already been sent to the President. I am sure he must be scrutinising it to see whether it meets the aspirations of the workers and their social security. So we are just waiting for him,” Mr Tayebwa told Saturday Monitor on Thursday.

Saturday Monitor has learnt that there had been earlier delays in putting the necessary paperwork together before the document passed by Parliament could be sent to the President.

Whereas Parliament passed the document on November 24, it was not until the end of the first week of December that it was dispatched for the President’s consideration.

The delays
Speaking to Saturday Monitor in an interview earlier this week, the chairman general of the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU), Mr Usher Wilson Owere, said the delays were caused by the need by officials in the Office of the Speaker to subject the document to scrutiny.

“The legal team in the Office of the Clerk to Parliament had to subject the document to scrutiny before it could be sent to the President. That is what caused some delays,” Mr Owere told Saturday Monitor.
Under the provisions of the document, Mr Museveni has up to 30 days from the date he receives the document to either sign it into law or send it back to Parliament for adjustments. 
By press time, it was not possible to establish when exactly the document was sent to the President, with sources at Parliament giving conflicting dates. 

Whereas some said it was sent on December 10, others indicated it was sent on December 13. Whichever the date of despatch, it means Mr Museveni has until either January 10 or January 13 to assent to the document.
If he opts to, for any reason, to send it back to Parliament, it will be the second time the document will be returning to Parliament, having been first sent back during the life of the 10th Parliament, which had passed it

on February 17 this year. The 10th Parliament did not have enough time to revisit the document. 
Savers who had been optimistic about accessing their savings were disappointed when the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Jacob Oulanyah, annulled all business that had been pending after the lapse of business of the 10th Parliament.

But the Bill was reintroduced for the first reading on September 29, which paved way for its passing about two months later.

Minister’s mandate
Should the President assent to the document, it will be incumbent upon the Minister of Finance to come up with a statutory instrument to drive the process forward.

“This Act shall come into force upon publication in the Gazette, except for Section 24A, which shall come into force on a date to be appointed by the minister by statutory instrument on the advice of the Board,” the document reads in part. 

Whereas the minister can opt to immediately swing into action and come up with the said statutory instrument, he has a 60-day window, starting from the date on which the President assents to the document, to come up with the said instrument.

Should the President then sign the document into law either on January 10 or January 13 and the minister exercises his 60-day prerogative, it means savers will have to wait until either March 10 or March 13 before hopes of accessing their savings are concretized.

NSSF not ready

The NSSF managing director, Mr Richard Byarugaba, also indicated in an interview with Saturday Monitor that whereas the Fund had already moved to put into motion a system that will allow for the huge pay-outs that will occur once the law becomes operational, the Fund is not yet fully ready to effect the pay-outs.

“We have just changed our system as part of being ready for that (payment of mid-term access), but in terms of being ready, we are not yet ready. We are not yet ready, probably within the next couple of weeks (we shall be ready) because our systems required us to prepare for a huge influx of payments and apparently, our old systems were not able to (do so),” Mr Byarugaba said.

Mr Byarugaba told Saturday Monitor in an earlier interview that the Fund will require at least Shs500b to allow for the payment of 20 per cent mid-term access for the qualifying members.

However, Mr Byarugaba expressed optimism on Thursday morning that all systems will be ready by the time the minister and the Board issue the required statutory instrument.

“We will certainly be ready by the time the President assents to the document and the instrument is issued. The instrument will be issued 60 days after the President assents,” Mr Byarugaba said.