By Our Reporter,
KAMPALA
The High Court in Kampala has on Friday dismissed an appeal by former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Managing Director, Richard Byarugaba against his dismissal and the appointment of the current MD Patrick Ayota.
Gender minister, Betty Amongi Akena in 2022 suspended Byarugaba out of office on allegations of misuse of public fund.
Byarugaba however challenged the minister’s decision to suspend him and the appointment of Ayota as illegal arguing that he had performed well suitably to keep his job for another five-year tenure.
Presiding over the case, justice Musa Ssekaana of the High Court Civil Division dismissed the case upholding the Minister’s decision to and the NSSF Board to appoint Ayota.
Byarugaba was appointed as NSSF MD since August 1, 2010. His first tenure stretched to November 29, 2017, when he was reappointed. The second tenure expired on November 30, 2022.
But Byarugaba cried to court of unfair treatment. He said Minister Amongi has attempted to end his second tenure even before the contract could run its course.
The minister had cited retirement age, capped at 60, which Byarugaba has clocked at the time.
While Byarugaba won that first battle to stick to the Shs18 trillion Fund following the intervention of the Attorney General, he invariably ran out of luck and time.
Amongi exercised as discretion to only renew the contract of Ayota and kicked Byarugaba out – even as the board had recommended he, too, gets an extention.
The minister pinned Byarugaba to financial impropriety, collusion with contractors, defiance of presidential directives, and corruption.
Byarugaba ran helter-skelter to save his job, including to the President who, on December 6, 2022, heard his cries and directed Amongi to conclude the matter.
Byarugaba told the court that Amongi’s decision not to renew his contract was illegal, irrational, and procedurally incorrect.
However, as the matter was pending in court, Amongi elevated Ayota and appointed him as the managing director of the Fund, leaving Byarugaba in a knot.
Last October, Ayota told the court that his former boss’s appeal was flawed and described it as “unmeritorious cries of a single disgruntled person whose recommendation was rejected based on sound, cogent reasons.”
The court, in its ruling, said the minister’s rejection of Byarugaba’s reappointment was an exercise of discretion which is granted under the law to allow the system of checks and balances in the appointment process.
“The Minister as the appointing authority has some latitude of power to subject recommended persons to scrutiny and or reject the same and direct a fresh process of recruitment as it was done or approve of the recommended persons and effect the appointment'” Judge Ssekaana said.
He also said the court cannot quash the appointment of Ayota because the NSSF board had duly recommended for it.
Judge Ssekaana dismissed the application but spared Byarugaba the costs for his judicial review appeal.
