By Arnold Mark Wadulo
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has launched a two-month amnesty campaign aimed at encouraging employers with outstanding contributions to clear their arrears, as the Fund moves to strengthen compliance and grow its asset base.
The campaign, which runs from March 10 to May 11, 2026, offers employers a 100 percent waiver on penalties for unpaid contributions, provided they carry out a self-assessment and pay the principal arrears together with the accrued interest.
Officials say the initiative is part of broader efforts to improve compliance with the provisions of the National Social Security Fund Act, which requires employers to remit a standard contribution of 15 percent of an employee’s salary, shared as 10 percent by the employer and 5 percent by the employee.
“The amnesty campaign will apply to three categories of employers; the first category is those who have arrears of contributions, the second category are those we have audited and given settlement deeds, and the third category are those employers who haven’t yet registered with NSSF,” said Gerald Paul Kasaato while launching the campaign this morning at their head offices at Workers House in Kampala.
According to Kasaato, the Fund currently manages assets worth about Shs30 trillion, supported by 3.4 million members and more than 111,000 employers across the country.
Under its long-term strategy dubbed Vision 2035, the Fund aims to increase its assets under management to Shs50 trillion, expand coverage to 50 percent of Uganda’s working population, and raise customer satisfaction to 95 percent.
However, compliance remains a challenge. NSSF reports that compliance among registered employers currently stands at about 47 percent, down from 52 percent in the previous financial year, highlighting gaps in contribution remittances despite gradual improvements in recent years.
Through the amnesty campaign, the Fund is targeting to onboard at least 2,800 additional employers and recover up to Shs160 billion in unpaid contributions.
Barbra Arimi Teddy re-echoed Kasaato, saying it is a good time for employers to reach out to the Fund after carrying out self-assessment and paying the accrued contributions and interest, after which the penalty will be waived.
NSSF warns that employers who fail to take advantage of the amnesty period risk legal action, which could lead to additional costs. The Fund notes that litigation would require employers to cover both the outstanding contributions and related legal expenses.
On average, NSSF conducts more than 2,000 employer audits annually.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the biggest obstacles to full compliance with social security funds remains the high level of informality in Uganda’s economy, which continues to limit participation in formal social security systems and affects the broader labour market.
“A significant number of workers, not only in the informal sector but also in the formal sector, are informally employed with no appointment letter and no pay slip. So even if NSSF comes to audit, there are very high chances that the documents presented by an employer for audit purposes will not have employees who are informally employed,” said Geoffrey Waisawa Sajjabi, NSSF’s Chief Commercial Officier.
An online portal on the NSSF’s official website has been set up to facilitate the amnesty process for all targeted categories of employers, and the Fund maintains that improving compliance and expanding employer participation will be key to strengthening Uganda’s retirement savings system.
