Kampala – As of January 2024, the National Social Security Fund- NSSF has recovered UGX 70bn through the recently launched whistle-blower campaign.
The whistle-blower campaign, a nationwide drive was launched in November last year 2023 to encourage workers to report employers defaulting on NSSF contributions
Figures from the Fund indicate that 622 cases have been received by the Fund from employees and members of the public, involving over 480 employers across the country, unearthing a total of UGX 70 billion so far.
Figures also show that over 30% of the reported cases of nonpayment of NSSF contributions involve private security companies, followed by manufacturing and the education sector.
As of December 2023, the Fund had instituted court cases against over 390 employers and has over the last 2 years so far recovered arrears of about UGX 8.96 billion because of the court process.
“The response from workers across the country, and across several sectors of the economy is encouraging. So far, the amount of money unearthed, now about UGX 70 billion is either through our automated audit process or through direct demand notes,” NSSF Ag. Deputy MD Gerald Paul Kasaato noted.
In November last year, the Fund unveiled an upgraded web-based “Whistleblower Portal” to enable members to report defaulting employers seamlessly and a drive to ultimately increase the compliance rate to 60% in this financial year 2023/24.
The new features of the upgraded portal include a complete anonymity option to protect whistle-blowers from possible victimisation and an automatic tracking aspect of reported cases.
In addition, the new portal now allows government labour inspectors to report contractors who refuse to contribute to the Fund as prescribed by the NSSF Act, as amended.
The Act requires all employers irrespective of the number of employees to remit social security contributions monthly.
He added that once all reported cases are resolved at the end of January 2024, the Fund expects to hit its compliance target of 60% announced at the launch of the drive.
NSSF members, workers, and the public can report defaulting employers anonymously through the revamped whistleblower portal https://whistleblower.nssfug.org/
