The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) is taking an intervention to bring on board the previously ignored informal sectors to join the national savings programs for better future retirement benefits.
Patrick Ayota, the Managing Director of NSSF said during a regional meeting between the NSSF and employers in the Bunyoro sub-region recently.
Ayota noticed that it has been unfortunate that some categories of people are being left behind without being encouraged to save in spite of NSSF being in existence.
He noticed that people working in informal sectors, including boda boda riders, taxi drivers, and vendors, are being left behind with no proper platforms to save for their retirements.
“We have people who are working within informal sectors, these people work throughout their lives and don’t involve themselves in long term savings for their retirements,” he said.
Ayota said that this raises a concern, saying they will involve all the informal sectors to start saving with them this year.
“We have so far had engagements with entrepreneurs and also provided them with seed capital especially to farmers, bodabodas, hoping this will be helpful to them,” Ayota revealed.
“In the year 2025/2026, we expect to hit around 2.4 trillion Uganda shillings,” he stated.
He said they expect the Funds to bring on board at least 15 million Ugandans to save with them.
However, Ayota disclosed that only 60% of the formal sector employers nationally are compliant with NSSF programs.
Meanwhile, he said that NSSF projects its assets to grow to shs50 trillion by 2035 and the projections are based on steady annual growth of about shs3 trillion, driven by strong contributions, sound investments, and expanding voluntary savings options.
The engagement which was aimed at reminding employers within different avenues including construction, education, NGOs about their responsibilities and duties, also raised calls to employers to prioritise registering and enrolling their employees on NSSF programs for their future retirements.
On registering employees to NSSF, Geoffrey Sajjabi, said they still understand that some employers still fail to take it as an important role.
According to him, failure by employers to embrace NSSF programs for their employees leads to financial constraints after the employee’s retirement.
“When someone is still energetically working for you today, creating value for your company, you have to respond by investing in their social security by saving for them on NSSF. This helps them remain financially unconstrained even after their retirements,” he said.
“Make sure that you (the employees) ask your employers to ensure that they remit your money on time in accordance with the law. And also allow NSSF staff to do inspections on your workplaces to avoid breaking them because it’s an offence,” he continued.
During the engagement, the Funds also awarded 15 employers in Bunyoro who swiftly complied with NSSF in making sure that their employees’ remittances are paid on time.
The awarded beneficiaries were from the districts of Hoima, Masindi and Fortportal, where five awardees came from each district.
Mary Becker Angume, a project officer for Joint People to Save the Environment, an NGO in Fortportal, appreciated NSSF for the initiative that makes employees save for their retirements.
“We have lasted for over 30 years operating with over 80 employees whose returns remain sent on time to NSSF for their future retirement benefits,” she said.
Dan Mugula, the marketing manager at NSSF recognised the efforts of the women by responding to NSSF programs, revealing 30 per cent of women comply.
He described women as the best managers of businesses in Uganda. “And that’s why as NSSF, we have put much emphasis on empowering women.”
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