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Uganda’s Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED), Hon. Matia Kasaija, has today told the Parliamentary Committee investigating governance and administration issues in the Fund, that the acts by the Gender, Labour and Social Development minister to ask for funding from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), an agency she supervises were wrong, outside the law and not part of her mandate.
Hon Kasaija who was today appearing in the Hon Mwine Mpaka committee, also said he sharply disagreed with Hon. Betty Amongi over the matter. The committee is among others examining the circumstances surrounding the appointment of the Fund’s Managing Director, evaluate the status and safety of savers’ money in the Fund.
The MPs were interrogating the Minister, whose ministry oversees the investments docket of the Fund over Hon. Amongi’s exerting of pressure on the Fund to invest UGX40 billion in the Grain Milling Council as well as fund the Ministry’s activities with up to UGX6 billion.
“Since the law is explicit on investment that the Minister of Finance takes lead, I should have been involved for sure. But I was not involved,” the minister said, about the request to invest the UGX40 billion.
“At least there should have been a courtesy, for me to be informed,” he told the MPs, adding: “I think it was irregular in my view. Either the law was not well understood, or she was ill-advised”.
Kasaija concurred with the MPs that the matter of investing in the Grain Council was not under the Gender Ministry docket and therefore, Hon Amongi should not have been actively pressuring the Fund on the investment. Kasaija also said in any case, every investment had to undergo a rigorous analysis and approval by the board before it is presented to the finance ministry for approval.
Asked about the matter of the contentious UGX6 billion, Kasaija said that when the matter came to his attention, he disagreed with Hon. Amongi, “in principle” because NSSF funds belong to the savers and cannot be used to fund government work.
“Those are not Funds for public expenditure,” he said adding: “To me, it is irregular because a ministry that is supervising that body (NSSF), should not ask for money to run the affairs of the ministry, even if those affairs are related to the Fund. They should request for money from the treasury”.
“This money is not our money. Let us be very clear. This money is workers’ money,” Kasaija further stated.
Appearing before the same committee earlier today, Betty Amongi had denied requesting the money saying it had been allocated in the budget, but Patrick Ocailap, the Deputy Secretary to the Treasury at the finance ministry who also sits on the NSSF Board, said it was instead the Minister who had asked that the money be reallocated from another budget item and be allocated to fund her ministry.
Mr. Ocailap also said conferred with his minister that the budget support request by the Gender minister was irregular.
Kasaija blamed the current woes at the fund on what he said was a problematic dual oversight role by two ministries.
He was responding to a question by the Committee on why there were no issues when the Fund was under single management by MoFPED and now issues had cropped up after the dual oversight regime.
“As far as I am concerned, we have been having a very excellent working relationship (with Richard Byarugaba). Whenever he would receive a challenge- the MD or Chairman for that matter, they would come to me. If I felt there was something I did not understand, I would summon them and they come to me. For all purposes, I had no issue of substance, that is worth mentioning here, with Richard,” Kasaija told the MPs.
“From the word go, colleagues, I was not persuaded that this dual thing would work very well,” Kasaija said, adding that even President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had in his letter of 4th October 2019 expressed reservations on the matter, saying it would slow down decision making and create loopholes for corruption.
However, parliament, under the amended NSSF act passed the dual oversight role in which the finance ministry would oversee investments while the gender ministry would oversee policy matters.