By Rev. Canon Grace Kaiso
A lot has been said about NSSF, however in my view it is the testimonies of the people who have received their benefits from NSSF that stress the importance of saving in a country where people rarely save money for a rainy day.
When people who are skeptical about the fund hear about or meet people who have actually processed and got their payments, they can get motivated to register and start saving with NSSF. People who qualify must start saving with NSSF so that they don’t struggle after retirement. 
For Instance while working at the Uganda Joint Christian Council Executive Secretary I was saving with the fund until I retired last year. Ahead of retirement I was able to track my payments through the available personal statements and it helped me to monitor my savings. This consistent monitoring gave me a picture of what to expect on retirement. After two months of making my claim, I was paid my benefits in July 2009. Contrary to what I had expected and what people often said, I thought that it would take a longer time but it didn’t happen.
When I got the money I felt more empowered and able to do some things that I had planned to do on retirement. The benefits come often at a time when you need them most and that enables you to plan even better for your life while in retirement.
The money can be used to complete a pending project or start a new one that will in one way or another work as an investment. It could be something as simple as roofing your house, or restocking your farm. For instance, I have used some of my savings to start a building project. On completion it will serve both residential and commercial purposes and that way I can be able to get returns from the rent of the buildings. It would have been very difficult for me to do this if I hadn’t saved with NSSF, because it is not every day that you get a large amount of money at once.
Besides, when you are older and are out of work, very few lending institutions are willing to support you, this means that in case you never saved at all you would have to depend entirely on what you have in your hands.
The reason why many people face problems while they are older is because of a poor saving culture in the country. They haven’t made any deliberate and consistent commitments to save which puts them in a difficult position in case of any emergencies. Voluntary saving is very difficult because one can easily divert the funds for something else that is why NSSF is an advantage for many because it helps them to save money where they cannot easily access it at will and therefore check a poor saving culture.
I would advise those who save with NSSF to frequently monitor their savings by checking to know the progress of how much their savings. It is also important for them to check if employers are actually contributing to the fund. Unfortunately some employees are not pro-active enough in following up the details and progress of their payments, while others even don’t want to register. This shows that many are not as informed about the advantages of saving for the future and therefore take it for granted.
While workers should get more responsible and supportive of the fund, NSSF too should stay accountable and open to the public about its operations and plans and continue to sensitize the public about the advantages of saving. This will help to build confidence in the scheme
Where it is possible open days should be held frequently to allow for more interactions between NSSF and its contributing members to create a sense of ownership of the fund by the members.
Rev Grace Kaiso was Executive Secretary of Uganda Joint Christian Council before he retired. He is currently the General Secretary of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa. |
