The contractors and Suppliers have been warned of exploiting their workers by not remitting their contributions to the National Security Fund (NSSF)
The warning was sounded by the Minister of Gender Labor and Social Development Betty Amongi at the two days contractors and suppliers forum organized by NSSF and the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) in Kampala.
Among said that there are 16 million Ugandans in the active employment but of these more than 80 percent are considered subsistence workers in the unregulated informal sector living hand to mouths and a third of these are excluded from the employment statistics which was termed as exploitation.
Minister Amongi singled out the construction companies as leading culprits of such exploitative acts of workers. Among was concerned about the casual laborers who are employed but in quotes and without formal contracts. She said that such workers are left without work for a long time and not knowing when to go back to work because they don’t have contracts.
“In my office everyday I am getting people complaining about compensation for injuries at work place, but when you ask them for the contract they say we are casual laborers”.
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Patrick Ayota the Managing Director NSSF stated that there is a need to develop domestic savings to develop the national economy and build infrastructures such as good roads, electricity supply among others, benchmarking on Vietnam, which developed as result of National savings.
“Currently Uganda’s long-term savings to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 11 percent of which 10 percent is in NSSF, If we are to survive as a country we better think about how we can have our savings” states Ayota.
Elizabeth Muhebwa the executive director of the Uganda National Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (UNABCEC) while at the event revealed that there is delayed payments clients, especially government and yet, there is a requirement for the of timely remitting of the contribution by 15th of the new months.
John Bosco Ssejjemba, the director of road contraction and maintenance at Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) said that they are committed to working with NSSF to boost the national domestic savings among workers. She explained that has hindered generating of the required funds to maintain a skilled labor force.