On Tuesday, President Museveni finally signed into law the NSSF Amendment Bill of 2021 that will allow beneficiaries of 45 years and above to have mid-term access of up to 20% of their savings kept with the Fund for at least 10 years.
However, previously the Managing Director of the Fund, Richard Byarugaba had noted that if the law was amended, NSSF would need 60 days to come up with the money that wasn't available at the moment.
RX Radio Presenter James Onen commonly known as Fatboy who is 47 years old, has saved with the fund for over 10 years and is now fully eligible for the benefits, questioned if the move was finally ready to yield fruit, saying, “I don't know if that being the case, it'll actually work out for us.”
Olive Najjuma, the Co-host of the show replied that since the bill was amended by the President, it will eventually benefit the savers. “I think it's going to work out after the President assents to the bill, and Byarugaba said they are waiting for two months for the law to be gazetted such that eligible people are able to access their savings,” she assured.
She also noted that people with disabilities aged 45 and above will also have access to 50% of their savings.
On top of this, the exciting news prompted Fatboy to ask Olive if it was the reason she was smiling so much at him of late, knowing that he’s over 45 and the amendment is going to get him into ‘things,’ much to her amusement.
The NSSF bill was first passed by the 10th Parliament on November 17th 2021 and it was returned to the house in August by President Museveni to make adjustments before he consented to it.
However, according to the Minister of Gender and Social Development Betty Amongi, eligible beneficiaries are to get their funds after a statutory instrument stipulating the processing of the benefits gets published in the gazette.
She also noted that with over two million savers with the fund, only 90,000 meet the criteria for accessing the benefits which amount to Shs.902.5 billion.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.
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