National Social Security Fund starts compulsory registration of all workers in Uganda

KAMPALA - The National Social Security  Fund has put into action compulsory registration of all workers in Uganda as it exerts pressure on the employers by giving them a period of 30 days with immediate effect to enact the process.

The campaign has been seconded by the Federation of Small and Medium sized Enterprises together with the Private Sector Foundation and the Uganda Law Society focused at expansion of social security coverage and operationalise the new provisions in the NSSF Act, as amended, specifically sections 7 and 13 A that introduced mandatory contributions by all workers regardless of the size of the enterprise or the number of employees, and section 13A which introduced voluntary contributions.

In a joint press conference on Tuesday at the NSSF offices in Kampala the acting Managing Director NSSF, Patrick Ayota has also called upon employers to register all employees regardless of the numbers, ranging from one to as many as possible.

Ever since the law was assented in 2022, by HE the president of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, over 3200 employers with less than 5 employees have registered with the NSSF, he said.

He however emphasized that in order to avoid the penalties for registering late, employers across the country should take advantage of the remaining 30days to comply.

According to Ayota, " categories of employers include , the government, a company registered or incorporated under the companies act 2012, a partnership registered under the partnership act 2010, a trustee incorporated under the trustees incorporation act, cap 165, a business registered under any other law for the time being in force governing the establishment of business entities, the government body of an unincorporated association and a manager or a subcontractor who provides employees for the principal contractor, " he explained.

The target is to register over 50,000 employers and 1.2 million new members from SME space, voluntary and informal sector in the next five years, Ayota added.

John Walugembe the Executive Director, Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, emphasized their members to take advantage of the window offered by NSSF because there are opportunities in regularizing registration with NSSF, especially for the Small & Medium Enterprises who currently dominate Uganda's business terrain, but also face many challenges.

He stressed that all members should take advantage of this opportunity provided by the Fund to register so that they are not caught at the wrong side of the law," Walugembe said.