The woes on workers savings at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) seem far from being over as Court ordered the body to pay Shs 200 million to embattled Deputy Managing Director Geraldine Ssali as General damages.

Justice Steven Musota of the High court also directed NSSF to pay shs 50 million for contempt of court following the body’s refusal to grant Ssali permission to enter office following a court order.

Ssali returned to office last week after being blocked several times since her suspension in March 2016 and the subsequent reinstatement order by the High Court.

The events come in the wake of an application filed by Ssali seeking a compensation of over shs 1.5 billion and a declaration that the fund acted in contempt when it declined to heed to the court orders.

The latest suit had threatened to throw the Fund into endless wars until last week when Ssali was granted access to her office. Sources said Ssali had earlier been denied acess to her office because of her refusal to withdraw court suits against some of the fund’s top management officials.

In the midst of the controversial standoff,  Finance Minister Matia Kassaija tried to broker peace by meeting top management to resolve the issue out of court. He recommended that Ssali be granted access to office and that she withdraws her court cases against the officials.

Ssali on the other hand argued that the top managers should be punished for contempt of court orders and causing her financial loss and distress during her suspension from March this year.Ssali according to management was previously suspended for insubordination and later a forced leave a decision she challenged in court.

Reports indicate that although Ms Ssali’s refusal to go on forced leave seemed to have kicked off the storm, sources within the fund say this was just a catalyst to the already frosty relationship between  managing director Richard Byarugaba and his deputy especially over money and power to control ambitious project that the fund had started embarking on.

In another twist of events, recently Inspector General of Government, MS Irene Mulyagonja, has opened fresh investigations into NSSF to management for alleged harassment of employees, mismanagement and fraudulent tendering for construction of the Second phase of the Pension Towers.

Ssali’s woes

In 2013 Ssali in acting capacity as MD initiated fresh negotiations with ROKO to reduce the Shs 227 billion cost by 20 percent,but the project did not take off

“In December 2014,Ms Ssali (while acting MD during the period Byarugaba was out of office and his contract expired and before it was renewed) with the Approval of the then board chairman (late Ivan Kyayonka) reduced the bill of construction of the Pension Towers from Shs227 to Shs118.5b,” reads a document by a whistleblower to the IGG to investigate cases of alleged harassment of employees, mismanagement and fraudulent tendering of the 2 Phase Pension Towers among other accusations.

However, they IGG is still investigating and is yet to come up with a report about the current allegations.

It is alleged that Ssali is against the 50 increament to the project cost.

The Pension Towers is a multi-million construction project of phase two of the , a 25-storey building along Lumumba Avenue in Nakasero.

Phase one was contracted to ROKO construction at Shs120b in 2008.The phase was supposed to be completed in two years, but took longer after a retainer wall collapsed later that year killing seven workers and injuring scores. At the beginning of 2009, the project cost had risen to Shs147b until completion in 2012.

For the second phase, NSSF retendered the project and awarded the contract to China Civil Engineering and Corporation (CCECC) at Shs222.3b in 2012.

However, other dissatisfied bidders petitioned the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) citing foul play and corruption in the process. The PPDA investigated the claims and issued a report in September 2012 copied to the IGG.

In the report, PPDA directed the NSSF board to re-evaluate 17 bids that had been submitted for the contract and a fresh bidding process be initiated. The IGG hence forth cancelled CCECC’s tender which was said to be Shs20billion higher than that of another Chinese firm, China National Aero-Technology International Engineering, contrary to the procurement law.

The IGG’s recommendations were the cancellation of the whole bidding process of phase 2 of the project. However sources further reveal that after the IGG’s recommendations to NSSF, the then board chairman [late Kyayonka] asked the IGG to relax some of the recommendations as they would slow the already behind schedule building project. The requested that they bring back ROKO construction to complete the 2 phase that the IGG okayed.

It remains to be seen if this current crisis will be settled without further injuring and depleting the worker’s savings.