While pensioners are a nation’s revered skills reservoir, unresponsive Ugandan agencies are spiriting them to early graves

While pensioners are a nation’s revered skills reservoir, unresponsive Ugandan agencies are spiriting them to early graves

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Social Security Funds (SSFs) in Uganda tends to invest time, energy and money more in budling their financial and economic power within the context of the total economy than in building their social power to meet the social security needs of their members. At times, even government relies on them to endow it with money when it is in financial doldrums or when it is pursuing projects and programmes it deems necessary to transform the country.

For example, when pursuing its dams’ strategy of development, it is said, it sourced money from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). It is absolutely necessary that NSSFs upstep their social power and become socially sensitive, responsive and responsible towards their members. Or else, the funds are stolen by unscrupulous NSSF officials in collusion with some people in government or in the business world, often by hatching joint ventures that benefit the SSFs less and the unscrupulous individuals more.

The media have over the years recorded official robberies of NSSF by its top officials. At least one managing director was jailed for an extended period of time for causing NSSF a loss of an enormous amount of money, although he was recently released with no requirement that he makes good what was lost.

In the past retired members of the NSSF and other SSFs have suffered immensely because of the neglect mooted at them by the socially-insensible, socially insensitive, socially unresponsive and socially-irresponsible SSFs, which tend to be mechanistic in their interaction with their members. But what does it mean for an SSF to be to be socially-insensible, socially-insensitive, socially-unresponsive and socially-irresponsible?

For the purposes of this article, I will define these terms this way:

  • Socially insensible means being unconscious of the situation or suffering that retirees are in or go through.
  • Socially insensitive means not realising or caring about how retirees feel or what is likely to cause them further discomfort or suffering.
  • Socially unresponsive means not reacting appropriately to the needs, expectations and hopes of retirees; not giving the response that retirees expect or hope for; ignoring the collective mood of the retirees.
  • Socially irresponsible means not thinking enough about the effects of what the agents of an SSF decide or do on the members; not showing a feeling of concern of what influence or impact a particular decision, choice or action will exact on the members.

Of course, the SSFs are not human, but those who work in them are humans. When we use the terms socially-insensible, socially-insensitive, socially-unresponsible and socially-irresponsible we refer to the people in those SSFs who decide, choose and apply certain actions that may or may not harm their clientele. 

Unfortunately, the agents of the SSFs tend to interact with the members by remote-sensing and hardly have the feel of their suffering, hopes and expectations. They often hatch measures, strategies, plans and policies that are more mechanistic than social, and that are more beneficial to them as institutions thereby heightening the suffering of the members and loss of confidence in the NSFs. Frequently the retirees break down psychologically with dire consequences. In fact, more often than not, the high rate of death among the members of the SSFs are a result of impoverishment, loneliness, psychological decay and collapse and ailments such as high blood pressure and hypertension.

This, therefore, suggests that the people who work in the SSFs must be far more armed with skills in human relations than they are today. Public relations at their places of work are not enough. It can be difficult to deal with and satisfy the old and elderly retired people who have expectations and hopes different from those of the younger people still enjoying active and productive working lives.

Besides, there is need for the SSFs to have adequate knowledge banks on the cultural and social characterises of their members and the communities to which they belong and are retired in. Unfortunately, most SSFs are centralised with no tentacle in the countryside where most retirees reside when they retire. They deal with them as if they are all urbanites. Yet, in most cases, the retirees have stayed away from their local communities and environments for a very long time, are alien to the young generations therein, and have not integrated or been integrated therein.

Many of them are very lonely in their local communities and environments. They do not only require money to meet they social and economic needs in retirement, but also professional social care, which may be expensive. Caring SSFs would invest in such care to improve the survival rate of the retirees.

For most of the retirees, their children are grown up and are living elsewhere either in or outside the country. They suffer numerous psychological problems associated with loneliness and which may require long periods of vising hospitals or health clinics for treatment or counselling.

In this article I want to use the example of the Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme (MURBS), which weaned itself early from the NSSF and National Insurance Corporation in order to meet the collective and individual needs and expectations of the staff of Makerere University who retire from university service. I am not aware of an academic analysis of MURBS to-date deciphering the social relations between MURBS and its members. I will attempt to offer one using my own experience since I retired from university service in 2009.

As I wrote in my article “It is not MURBS killing Makerere University Retirees”, MURBS has greatly expanded its membership and resource base. It is also investing in certain projects and ventures to expand its economic base and make itself financially viable well in the future.

Initially it was not an easy beginning for MURBS and the members like myself. MURBS manages a separate scheme called In-House Retirement Benefits Scheme (IHRBS), which it inherited on its (MURBS) inception. The IHRBS does not cover all retirees of Makerere University but a few members of staff whose savings were deposited with the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) and had not retired by April 2009.

My wife and I have been on this scheme since its inception by the university. MURBS had earlier informed me that the scheme was about to be closed and that a final to all members of IHRBS would be phased out, but did not say when. In fact, my wife and I got our last IHRBS payments on 27th June 2024.

Way back, MURBS required the members to periodically apply for their benefits by going to its headquarters almost quarterly since payments were made on a quarterly basis. I found this cumbersome for the elderly beneficiaries of IHRBS. Remembering that I was once the secretary-general of the Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) for six years (1997-2002) and was always quick to provide quick and effective leadership to improve the quality of life of the academic staff, I wrote to the management of MURBS suggesting that it asks its aged retired members to provide all the necessary information about themselves only once, not repeatedly, as that would cause the retirees untold psychological torture.

It would then be up to the scheme to send the benefits to the bank accounts provided to it by the members. I copied my letter to the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), which supervises all SSFs in the country. URBRA agreed with me and got in touch with MURBS. It was agreed that multiple applications for the retirement benefits was not necessary and that requiring retirees to make multiple trips to Makerere University to apply for the benefits was not necessary either.

From that time on retirees have only waited for the scheme to inform them that their money has been deposited on their bank accounts they provided to the management of the scheme. It has been a very convenient arrangement for us the elderly retirees. We have not even travelled to our banks to withdraw our money because of the convenience of mobile banking, which we can conduct and have been conducting from the comfort of our homes on our mobile phones.

I was, therefore, very shocked when on May 14, 2024, my wife, Jane, drew my attention to a message from MURBS regarding the final instalment the IHRBS my wife and myself belong. We have been psychologically and emotionally well tuned to the way MURBS has been implementing IHRBS, without requiring us to make multiple applications and trips to Makerere University for our benefits. I was greatly concerned, not only for myself and Jane, but for all the elderly retirees of Makerere University.

Virtually all members of IHRBS are above 72 years old. Personally, I will turn 75 on July 27, 2024.  This is a highly vulnerable group of senior citizens suffering all sorts of ailments, including high blood pressure and hypertension. Many also suffer economic and social pressures, stresses and strains due to the deplorable economic and social environment to which every Ugandan is exposed today, and which does not favour retirees. Some are stressed because they have young children or grandchildren whom they are supporting in school or university.

The quality of economic, social and health well-being of retirees is eroded further if they still have dependants such as their children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, many retired when they had no retirement homes to retire to. Besides, Uganda is not a welfare state, with special homes for elderly senior citizens with no personal domiciles, or those who have them but are too lonely to stay in them.

 No wonder, many of our retired agemates passed on in the first five years of their retirement. Those of us who are still alive and soldiering on need a lot of care from the state and from our SSFs. A country with senior citizens should be proud because it is a group that can individually or collectively pass their experiences, wisdoms, understanding and insights onto the young generations in the countryside, in urban areas and both in leadership and outside leadership. Those who can still write can permanently record their experiences, knowledge, wisdoms, understanding, and insights in books or online so that continuity of society is perennial.

As I was beginning to write this article, I heard on radio that Parliament had legislated several types of taxes, which will no doubt impact the retirees who belong to MURBS (and IHRBS) and other SSFs. For example, Parliament has increased taxes on petrol and diesel. This implies that retirees who no longer earn salaries will suffer a lot of financial inconveniences since they will have to pay more for bus or taxi travel.

One thing is true. A country or SSF that cares should take senior citizens, retired or not, as a national treasure that should be made as comfortable as possible and ensure that society benefits from them before they breathe their last. Treating them as undesirables and letting nature take course on them, exposes lack of conscience and a high degree of lack of concern to a crucial category of citizens that is irreplaceable once it is depleted of senior citizens. The young in particular need to interact with members of this group as ling as possible in order to grow in experiential knowledge, world view, morally, ethically, spiritually, and exposure in diverse ways.

What am I saying? The Uganda government and the various SSFs should take great care to preserve our elderly for the good of the country instead of treating them as expired nonessentials that can be easily manipulated to embrace even what is suicidal to them. The elderly need financial economic and social goods and services for them to continue to tick and contribute to the well being of their country. Some can still participate in various activities such as leadership, raising awareness, motivating the young and small-scale businesses. All they need is to enjoy “healthy bodies, healthy minds, and healthy spirits in their old age.  Tis is the main reason why the government, society and the SSFs should be socially responsive to old, elderly, and retired old and elderly.

What I want to write is that in dealing with the retired members of MURBS staff it is necessary for the SSF to exhibit a high degree of social sensibility, social sensitivity and social responsibility towards them.  Thus, the retirees will continue feeling that, in their advanced age, their social security fund still treats them with respect.

Just before my wife and I got our last IHRBS payments, I requested MURBS to give each beneficiary of IHRBS a breakdown of payments and the remaining amount that he or she should expect to be paid. I have no reason to believe that they scheme did not do that. However, I was shocked that when MURBS sent me details they did not only misspell my name and give payment details that did not apply to me but also indicated that my account was held with Centenary Bank (Bwayise Branch).

I had never opened any account with Centenary Bank anywhere in Uganda. Ever since I came back to Uganda in 1991, I have held accounts only with Barclays Bank, Standard Bank, Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) and Stanbic Bank. I wondered, in a letter of May 24, 2024 to MURBS’ principal pensions officer, if that was not an intentional mistake and if it was not the case for many MURBS retirees, adding I demand that:

  • Furnish me with a plausible explanation why these two grave mistakes could be made at this time when I am supposed to be paid my final HIRB
  • Explain to me the implications of the grave mistakes on the timely payment of my IHRB
  • You speedily apologise and proceed to correct the mistakes
  • I have asked Counsel Isaac to return the forms and whatever else was in the parcel as they most likely have nothing to do with me since I do not belong to Centenary Bank
  • Meanwhile I hope other beneficiaries of IHRB have not suffered the same fate, which casts MURBS in bad taste.

In reply the principal pensions officer of MURBS apologised on behalf of MURBS and said the mistakes were not intentional and promised to serve me better. I was happy of course.

In conclusion, SSFs relate to their retirees only by remote-sensing, and are, therefore, insensitive to them, their challenges, problems and issues. The top-down approach to the challenges, problems and issues of the retirees needs to be rethought by all SSFs in Uganda so that they are more social sensitive, and responsive to the challenges, problems and issues of retirees.

In other words, SSFs need to be on the ground where most of the retirees retire to. Put another way, the SSFs need to be decentralised. Centralised governance has proved too inefficient, insensitive and irresponsible. And of course, it has de-emphasised the social aspects of governance, especially the social and psychological needs of the retirees, and emphasised the technical, economic, institutional and bureaucratic aspects instead.

Retirees, are a special category pf people that need special care. We still needs them to contribute to the development, transformation and progress differently from the way they were doing it.

For God and my country

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