NSSF saga: Byarugaba accuses Amongi of frustrating operations

Byarugaba rebuked the dual supervision of the Fund by both the labour ministry and that of the finance ministry.

He said this while appearing before the parliamentary select committee constituted by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, to investigate allegations of corruption and mismanagement at NSSF.

The NSSF Act as amended bestowed the supervision role on the minister of gender, labour and social development and the minister of finance, planning and economic development.

Byarugaba contended that the dual supervision has slowed down processes at the Fund. He expressed fears about the possible decline in interest rate that will be paid to members in the next round. The argument is that while the ministry of finance is responsible for investment, the gender ministry is on the other hand charged with budget approval.

Byarugaba told the committee that investment decisions are taken based on the available budget.

But in this case, he accused Amongi for interfering and frustrating approval of the budget something he argued that derailed the implementation of investment.

A case in point is the land in Nakigalala that Byarugaba told the members of the select committee that it was valued at sh220b.

However, the figure the select committee members were furnished with earlier indicated that the land had been valued at sh400b which the minister for gender, labour and social development Betty Amongi confirmed to have been the case. But Byarugaba contended that the money was for several plots of land.

Amongi told members of the committee on Thursday that the management failed to provide the report of due diligence on the land which prompted her to defer the budget. Byarugaba also hinted at the sh40b request for the grain council and the contentious sh6b

He said that he highly believed that the sh6b would end up at the ministry of gender, arguing that it would be difficult for him to ask for accountability from his supervisor.