Uganda establishes first worker savings scheme

On October 21, 1967, President Milton Obote of Uganda signed the Social Security Bill into law, creating a compulsory savings plan for workers in the private sector and non-pensionable public service.

The new law aimed to correct a system from colonial times where pensions primarily helped European and Asian civil servants, while most Ugandan workers relied on family for support after retirement. The legislation established the Social Security Fund, which later became the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

Both employees and employers contributed 5% of monthly wages, for a total of 10%, to fund benefits paid out upon retirement, disability, emigration, or the death of a member. A fifteen-member council with representatives from the government, employers, and employees oversaw the fund’s operations. Parliament approved the bill on September 26, 1967, after Minister of Labour and Attorney General Lameck Lubowa introduced it.

Though the original fund struggled with unpaid contributions during economic hardship in the 1970s, the government replaced it in 1985 with the NSSF, an independent corporate body.