KAMPALA
The Inspector General of Government (IGG) Betty Namisango Kamya Tirwomwe has cleared off the 15 charges against former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Managing Director, Richard Byarugaba.
At the beginning of this year, rifts ensued between the Labour minister Betty Amongi and MD Byarugaba over alleged misuse of the fund’s money, corruption and abuse of office among other charges.
The minister further alleged that Byarugaba never wanted her at the fund. This was after Byarugaba told the parliament select committee that was probing into the fund’s performance that the minister was frustrating and interfering with the operations of the fund. She also alleged that Byarugaba had exaggerated the Shs 400b budget for the purchase of NSSF land at Nakilagala.
A letter purportedly authored by minister Amongi addressed to MD Byarugaba requesting for Shs 6b was discovered during the probe but the MD had turned it down something that could have sparked off the rifts between the two.
However, the Friday report which the IGG released on corruption probe into the probe she has cleared all offences against MD Byarugaba.
According to the report, Byarugaba’s decision to refuse approval for Amongi’s proposal in the fund budget was an act of insubordination.
“…refusal by the Managing Director (Richard Byarugaba) to include the Minister’s (Betty Amongi) proposal in [NSSF’s] budget for the board’s approval was an act of insubordination…”
Report findings also identified that the UGX400b was budgeted by NSSF to buy strategic land
“This included land at Nakigalala which was estimated at Shs250b and another piece of land located at Naguru belonging to the Uganda Police Force, estimated at Shs150b. It was not true that the former MD inflated the cost of the land at Nakigalala,” the IGG report indicated.
“It was not true that the Fund’s performance had been declining. On the contrary, the performance was good and better than most service sectors institutions like commercial banks and insurance companies that registered slow growth and high cost-income ratios of above 50 percent between 2017 and 2022. It also performed better than NSSF Kenya. However, the Fund needs to improve in registering new members,” the report indicated.
On taking bribes and commission through waiving of NSSF contributions of workers of the Uganda Railways Corporation, and Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and reducing penalties that were to be paid by Tororo Cement, the IGG report has found this to be untrue.
“There was no evidence obtained to support the allegation that Mr Byarugaba waived NSSF contributions of workers of the Uganda Railways Corporation and Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and arbitrarily reduced the penalty that was levied on Tororo Cement Ltd,” the IGG report shows.
In another bribery allegation in the construction of apartments in Mbuya, Nakawa Division, and the investigators said they couldn’t find evidence M/S CATIC Construction Ltd paid bribes to NSSF to influence the award of the contract worth Shs14.5b in February 2016. A separate parliamentary probe had however found Byarugaba guilty on some the charges that have been dismissed by the IGG as ungrounded.
The IGG recommended that Byarugaba and Director Finance Stevens Mwanje refund UGX 4.4 billion in financial loss caused when they authorized irregular payments to staff who exited under voluntary early retirement. She cautioned that the two will be prosecuted if they fail to pay.
