Why NPA wants NSSF mid-term access reviewed
“We should not have come up with mid-term access. Mid-term access is a danger to our pension schemes,” Muvawala said on Thursday.
Calls for access to NSSF savings intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic disruption that followed, when job losses, reduced incomes and business closures left many workers struggling to meet their financial obligations. (Courtesy photo)
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The National Planning Authority (NPA) has called for a review of mid-term access to National Social Security Fund (NSSF) savings, warning that premature withdrawals could weaken the pool of long-term capital needed to finance Uganda’s economic transformation.
NPA executive director Dr Joseph Muvawala said pension funds have the capacity to provide long-term financing, but that the sector needs reforms that increase savings and expand the supply of investible capital.
“We should not have come up with mid-term access. Mid-term access is a danger to our pension schemes,” he said on Thursday.
He was speaking at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala during a high-level policy dialogue on Uganda’s development financing architecture, organised by the APEX Platform under the Office of the President.
The dialogue, held under the theme “Re-engineering Uganda’s Development Financing Architecture for Socio-Economic Transformation”, brought together government officials, financial institutions, development partners, private-sector players and other stakeholders.
It was organised to examine ways of mobilising adequate, sustainable and long-term financing for Uganda’s development priorities.
Mid-term access is a statutory benefit under Section 20A of the NSSF (Amendment) Act, allowing qualifying active contributing members to withdraw part of their accumulated retirement savings before the standard retirement age, subject to specified conditions.
Calls for access to NSSF savings intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic disruption that followed, when job losses, reduced incomes and business closures left many workers struggling to meet their financial obligations.
Muvawala, however, said Uganda should focus on expanding the number of people saving, particularly through micro-saving schemes, rather than weakening long-term pension savings.
“If we increase income, we increase savings,” he said, adding that the pension sector was growing but much of its money was invested in Treasury instruments.
“Why should we buy a car at sh600m when we can buy it for sh560m directly from the manufacturer? Why should we finance middlemen?”
Financing gap
Minister for the Presidency Milly Babalanda said Uganda’s development ambitions require a fundamental overhaul of the country’s financial infrastructure rather than simply seeking more money.
She said implementing the fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV) will require about sh593.6 trillion over five years, with 69.6% expected from the public sector and 30.4% from private enterprise.
The financing needs are linked to the Government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, which seeks to expand Uganda’s economy from nearly $50 billion to $500 billion by 2040, driven by agro-industrialisation, tourism, minerals including oil and gas, and science, technology and innovation.
Babalanda said the country needs a financial system capable of connecting its development ambitions to the capital required to deliver them.
“Government cannot finance Uganda’s transformation through the national budget alone."
The minister said Government would continue strengthening domestic revenue collection and directing public spending towards national priorities, but called for deeper capital markets, expanded public-private partnerships and increased private investment.
She also urged stakeholders to tap pension and insurance funds, green and climate finance, blended finance and Islamic finance, saying these sources should be brought together under a coherent national financing framework.
Rethink financing
Yunus Kakande, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency, said Uganda’s development financing needs are expanding at a time when traditional sources of funding are becoming increasingly constrained.
“This creates a compelling case for Uganda to rethink how it mobilises, structures and deploys development finance."
Kakande said significant pools of domestic institutional and private capital remain underutilised despite their potential to finance long-term development investments.
He said financing constraints identified through the APEX Platform cut across government institutions and therefore require “coordinated policy and institutional responses.”
Kakande urged stakeholders to “engage openly and constructively” and scrutinise existing financing arrangements, with emphasis on practical reforms that can strengthen Uganda’s development financing architecture.
Better use of resources
The Secretary to Cabinet and Head of Public Service, Lucy Nakyobe Mbonye, urged stakeholders to mobilise additional resources while avoiding scattered investments and prioritising large projects capable of delivering significant economic and social impact.
She also called for faster project implementation and stronger links between development financing and national priorities.
“Every shilling the Government mobilises carries an opportunity cost. Future generations will have to participate in repayment. Citizens expect investments to yield results. Our citizens want jobs and want to see service delivery,” she said.
Nakyobe said Uganda’s financing environment was constrained by competing demands on the national budget, limited fiscal space and the need to keep public borrowing sustainable.
She also noted that traditional development assistance was becoming less predictable, while domestic institutional and private capital had not yet been mobilised at the scale required.
“This creates a compelling case for Uganda to rethink how it mobilises, structures and deploys development finance,” she said.