Kampala, (UG): The former Managing Director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Mr Richard Byarugaba has sought a court injunction to overturn the appointment of Patrick M. Ayota as his replacement.
Ayota was on August 18 confirmed by the NSSF Board Chairman Dr Peter Kimbowa as the new Managing Director of NSSF replacing the embattled Byarugaba, on a five-year contract valid until 2028.
However, this did not age well with Byarugaba who has now sought court action alleging his former deputy (Ayota) was ineligible for the appointment since “he was holding a substantive statutory position of deputy managing director on a fixed 5-year term.”
Buarugaba therefore wants court to quash the appointment by Labour Minister Betty Amongi on grounds of “Ayota’s ineligibility.”
In the same application seen by this publication, Byarugaba demands that the court grants him permission to amend his earlier pleadings in which the former NSSF boss challenged Amongi’s decision to reject his re-appointment as well as processes leading to Ayota’s appointment.
The amendments are based on the application filed on August 9, in which Byarugaba sued Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka and Amongi, seeking an order “to direct the minister to discharge her statutory duty to complete his re-appointment as recommended by the NSSF board, and as required by law.”
The former NSSF boss now says that sworn statements, in correspondence with his case, contain developments that were not in existence at the time of filing and service of his initial case.
In his same application for the amendment, Byarugaba argues that the amendments sought are necessary for determining the real matters in controversy between the parties in the case- and to avoid a multiplicity of cases.
“I am in possession of documentary evidence that demonstrates that the purported new appointments were made in a manner whereby the board was not exercising its independent mind as envisaged by the law. Instead, the (NSSF) board was acting under the influence of the second respondent (Minister) and indeed contrary to their own prior written advice to the respondent,” Byarugaba states in the sworn affidavit.
He further contends that the new developments at the Fund are manifestly unlawful, being in contravention of the amended NSSF Act.
Byarugaba also wants the court to allow him to file a supplementary affidavit to adduce evidence and demonstrate that the appointment of Ayota was manifestly illegal, irrational and made with the sole purpose of frustrating his legitimate expectations.
The trial judge Musa Ssekaana set September 22, 2023, for hearing the former NSSF MD’s application.
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