The Government is to transform the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) into a pension fund, so that workers get monthly payments when their pension is due, the finance minister has said.

Addressing the social development sector review workshop at Hotel Equatoria in Kampala yesterday, Dr. Ezra Suruma said the new arrangement would be better than the current system where people are paid a lumpsum.

"Plans are underway to transform NSSF into a pension fund so that you can get a pay every month, instead of getting a lumpsum which you can blow away," he said.

He said it is everybody's responsibility to save for their future and that of their children when they become indisposed.

"Society has been quiet for too long. It is my responsibility to make sure when I am too old or sick, arrangements are in place to look after me and my children. It is time for us to face these hard issues," Suruma said.

He said plans were underway to create a contributory scheme for every Ugandan currently not covered by NSSF, by having cooperatives collecting money from farmers after they sell their crops, and remitting it to NSSF.

He said the Government is to compile registers containing information on all households in the country, in the grand plan aimed at poverty eradication.

"Once we accept the principle that everyone should contribute - because everyone can fall sick or die - then we agree on how. But we need to pass this law that everyone must provide for pension for themselves and their children.

"It's the responsibility of every citizen to contribute their own pension other than shifting this burden to someone else. We have to put in place a framework that enables every citizen to save now when still strong," Suruma said.

He said the savings will be invested and multiplied, and contribution will no longer be voluntary.

He said this would cause a financial revolution by increasing investments in the country.

Suruma said the Government intends to take economic institutions to avail credit to rural areas, start savings and credit cooperatives and marketing cooperatives.

Labour state minister Mwesigwa Rukutana said the social development programme should have started in 2003, had the feasibility of the sector not been low.