Uganda’s Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi has said government expects more than half of the 13.9 million employed Ugandans to register with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) under the requirements of the new law.
Speaking at the flag off of a registration exercise among industrial workers in Kampala last week, Ms Amongi said there are about 13.9 million Ugandans in employment, of which, at least more than a half must be members of NSSF.
This, she said, will help NSSF to grow its membership from under two million members to more than eight million as well as expand the Fund’s portfolio.
“The number of registered employees should be more than a half of the total number of people [13.9 million] who are in employment,” she said, warning companies against finding excuses not to register their employees, which she said, denies workers an opportunity to enroll into social security.
“People who are hiding their workers should stop. They should open up their doors and have their employees registered before this registration window ends ,” she said.
NSSF last week indicated it had extended the deadline, within which, employers had been expected to have registered their employees with NSSF.
The period, which had been expected to end this month, was extended by two months up to June 30, after which, non-compliant employers will face fines and related penalties.
The amended NSSF Act requires companies and organisations, irrespective of how many people they employ, to register their employees for onward social security contribution. The amendments also provide for voluntary contributors, which Ms Amongi said provides workers in the informal sector an opportunity to contribute towards social security.
As of March 2022, NSSF had more than 902,844 active members under the mandatory scheme and 31,146 under the voluntary scheme.
Uganda lacks a robust social security sector, which exposes much of the country’s population to extreme poverty before and after retirement.
Active and dormant status
As of December 2020, NSSF had 15,000 dormant employers while 644,000 were active. The Fund also had 675,000 members with accounts that had not been active in a year.
