President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law the the NSSF (Amendment) Bill, 2021, his Senior Press Secretary Lindah Nabusayi has said in a brief statement.

A key provision in the NSSF (Amendment) Bill, 2021 will grant members aged 45 and above and who have saved for at least a decade, midterm access to 20% of their savings.

Parliament in November last year  and passed the National Social Security Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The NSSF Bill that was first passed by the 10th Parliament on 17 February 2021, before it was returned to the House by President Museveni, seeks to among others allow mid-term access of up to 20 per cent to members who have reached the age of 45 years and above and also seeks to streamline the supervision of the Shs15 trillion NSSF Fund.

The 10th Parliament had voted that the Ministry of Finance retains the supervisory role of the Fund following the President’s rejection of dual supervision saying it was causing delays in decision making.

Earlier,  Parliament reached consensus on which ministry will supervise the operations and activities of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

There has been a big contestation on whether the supervisory role of NSSF funds should be under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development or remain under the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development under the new NSSF (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which is currently before Parliament.

While debating the report of the Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development on the bill a day earlier, MPs agreed on the dual supervisory role of NSSF with Gender Ministry taking the lead on supervising social security which includes mobilising and empowering communities to harness their potential while protecting the rights of vulnerable population groups and promoting issues of labour productivity and employment.

Social protection, gender equality rights and equity, human rights, culture and empowerment will be the other core roles.  On the other hand, the role of the Ministry of Finance will only be limited to matters of finance and investments.