General
MURBS Fund Value Grows to UGX 409.2 Billion
By: Ritah Namisango
Dr. Elizabeth Patricia Nansubuga, the Board Chairperson of the Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme (MURBS), has announced that the MURBS fund value has grown to UGX 409.2 billion as of the 2023/24 financial year.
Dr. Nansubuga made the announcement during the presentation of the MURBS Performance Report for the 2023/24 financial year, which ended on June 30, 2024. The report was presented to members of the University Council and Management at a meeting held on October 22, 2024, at the Makerere University Telepresence Centre, Senate Building.
The meeting, which preceded the Annual General Meeting scheduled for October 24, 2024, was attended by several key figures, including Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, University Secretary Mr. Yusuf Kiranda, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Prof. Henry Alinaitwe, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi, and a representative of the CEO of the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), Cosmas Ssenyonga, among other dignitaries.
MURBS is the mandatory scheme for Makerere University staff. It was established under irrevocable trusts with effect from 1st April 2009. It was set up by Makerere University for the purpose of providing retirement benefits to employees of Makerere University upon retirement from the University.
In her address, Dr. Nansubuga emphasized that, over the last 14 years, MURBS has grown into the fourth-largest retirement benefits scheme in Uganda by fund value and is regarded as one of the best-managed schemes in the country.
She acknowledged the efforts, hard work, commitment and resilience of the past and current leaders for the continuous growth of the scheme.
“MURBS Trustees have worked through different challenges in the past years to make it a strong scheme. These challenges have also enabled the trustees to develop and establish good relations with different sector players and its principal stakeholders,” she said.
The Financial Year 2023/24 under review marked the beginning of the implementation of the Board’s new Strategic Plan (23/24 – 27/28) which is centered around four strategic pillars – Member satisfaction, Financial Sustainability, Institutional capacity, and Stakeholder satisfaction.
She explained that through this they have been able to grow the fund value of the scheme by 16.1% from last financial year. She explained that although they did not reach their goal of improving the fund value by 17%, they appreciate the stakeholders for the milestone reached.
“By 30th June 2023, MURBS had a fund value of 352.4 billion. The Trustees targeted Fund growth of 17%, and I am glad to inform you, that the fund value of MURBS, as per the Audited Financial Statements of 30th June 2024 is 409.2 billion, which is an increase of 16.1%, failing to hit the target by less than 1%. This achievement was made possible by strategic periodical activities undertaken by the Board and our fund managers, supported by the strong oversight committees of the Board,” she stated.
She further shared that MURBS was able to improve the funds’ value after having an impressive financial performance, recording a net investment income of UGX 44.6 billion, far higher than the UGX 34.4 billion was collected in contributions during the financial year.
“The Performance filters down to all members through the interest that has been declared for the Financial Year 2023/2024. The Trustees will declare the interest on members’ balances during the Annual General Meeting on October 24, 2024,” she said.
It is against this background that Dr. Nansubuga revealed that the interest that the Trustees are awarding with respect to the Financial Year that ended 30th June 2024 will be higher than the one awarded last Financial Year. The very figure will be declared at the members’ AGM on Thursday, 24th October 2024.
Dr. Nansubuga further revealed that in order to have members who are grounded in protecting the benefits of the members, the Trustee made a decision to train its staff in Tax, Corporate Governance, Digital Trust and Cybersecurity, Investment opportunities in the Downturn landscape, Data Protection and Privacy Awareness, among others.
“Aware that one of the most common risks to a retirement benefits scheme is having members of the Board of Trustees who are not fully empowered to undertake their responsibility of governing the Scheme, the Trustees set out to strengthen the Board of Trustees’ capacity in various skills during the year,” she said.
“The Scheme recruited staff to focus on project remittances but also maintained all its staff who crossed over from the 2022/2023 FY. The Trustees are glad that the impact of the training undertaken is reflected in the execution of the different officers’ roles,” added Dr. Nansubuga.
“As of July 2023, 1153 members had benefits above 100 million, and by June 2024, 1166 members held benefits above 100 million even after giving out Ushs11 billion in Mid-term Access benefits. In addition, the FY started with only one member having at least half a billion but we closed with four members having at least half a billion and a total of 538 members with benefits over Ushs250 million,” she said.
Dr. Nansubuga also informed the conference that MURBS received its 7th Fire Award in the category of Retirement Benefits Schemes this year in recognition of their continuing excellence. This award reflects MURBS’ performance in comparison to her industry counterparts.
Dr. Nansubuga also used the opportunity to express her gratitude to Makerere University management for their ongoing assistance in ensuring prompt remittance of all contributions.
“At this moment, allow me to appreciate the Sponsor for remitting all the contributions to the FY ended. In the same vein, MURBS appreciates Makerere University Council and the Government of Uganda for paying the final installment of the In-house debt. Going forward, the university is assured of very good publicity concerning its handling of retirement matters at Makerere University,” Dr Nansubuga said.
Speaking at the event, Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe who first gave a history of the previous schemes that the University community used previously, underscored the importance of the scheme in giving confidence to the University’s staff.
“This scheme is extremely important to our staff because it is the only scheme which saves money for them, such that when they retire, they have a package. So, this is extremely important to our staff that even when they retire, they will live a normal life,” Prof. Nawangwe explained.
The Vice-Chancellor thanked the MURBS board of trustees for ensuring that the fund’s value grows by 40 plus billion shillings.
“I cannot thank the board of trustees enough, the managers, and administrators, for a job well done. I congratulate you for all those awards you have won, and it is just for Makerere to set the bar for the rest,” he said.
Professor Nawangwe called upon the MURBS Board of Trustees to consider investing in the Makerere Masterplan, which is seeks to develop the university’s territory around the country.
“I encourage MURBS to get interested in the Makerere University investment and development plans so that it is not just developers who have no connection that benefit, but the staff themselves who have worked for the University diligently for a long time, they can benefit from investments on this land,” he suggested.
On his part, Mr. George Bamugemereirwe, one of the board trustees thanked the University Management and Council for empowering MURBS.
“I want to commend the management of Makerere University for taking the initiative to think ahead, plan for people, and to invest for the future because retirement is a must,” he said.
“The danger of retirement is that it can be traumatic, some are lucky to have a full career, but I can tell you that there are very few jobs these days that can tolerate you for life. Contract jobs where you serve for a specific number of years are on the rise,” he added.
Mr. Bamugemereirwe stressed that retirement is very vulnerable for many individuals and therefore Makerere staff’s benefits should been safeguarded like it has been duly done by MURBS.
“Retirement is a very vulnerable time for many people and many actually fall victim to scammers’ loss, You’ll be vulnerable to a scammer who will come trying to advise on how to invest your money. So we thank MURBS that they have put measures to safeguard, and ring-fence workers’ money,” he said.
On his part, Mr. Cosmas Ssenyonga who represented the CEO of Uganda Retirements Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), thanked Makerere University management for always remitting contributions on a timely basis which has allowed the scheme to have that great performance.
“I want to thank the sponsors of this scheme which is the University management because without them I am not certain if the scheme would have had this kind of performance. They do remit contributions on a timely basis and that I can confirm because we receive quarterly returns on contributions,” he said.
Mr. Ssenyonga also praised the board of trustees for their adequacy in achieving their goal as a retirement benefit system, which is to ensure that their University staff enjoy a respectable life after they retire.
“I commend the board of trustees; they have done good for not only the scheme but the entire sector. When study the operations of MURBS, in terms of performance indicators especially, the efficiency indicator, they rank among the first two,” Mr. Ssenyonga added.
Ssenyonga hailed the board of trustees for implementing best practices, which prompted URBRA to examine MURBS as a model scheme when considering how to strengthen governance of such entities.
Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme (MURBS) has hit a historic UGX 547 billion valuation following an impressive 15.14% growth in the 2025/2026 financial year.
The growth was revealed during a review meeting of the MURBS performance held at Makerere University Main Administrative Building on October 27 2026 where the scheme announced to the sponsor Makerere University, and other stakeholders that the booming portfolio will directly benefit its close to 8,000 members.
This presentation primes the upcoming October 29 MURBS 16th Annual General Meeting (AGM), where they will officially declare this year’s highly anticipated interest rate to the general members.
Chairperson’s Statement on the Scheme’s Performance FY 2025/2026
Dr. Michael Kizito, Chairperson MURBS Board of Trustees, presented the scheme’s success, noting it is rooted in a deep sense of responsibility. He said “prudent stewardship guides our (MURBS) actions, and every contribution invested to MURBS carries an expectation of future security.”
MURBS’ commitment to members is further checked in the scheme’s transition in sync with statutory regulations, and ensuring fairness and transparency for all. In line with this, Dr. Kizito discussed pro rata interest calculation methodology as the new trend for MURBS. Pro rata key features include; contributions earning interest from time of receipt, interest compounding and stopping at exit.
Demonstrating a clear focus on maximising member yields, Dr. Kizito also discussed operational expenditure saying even with an increase in the administrative costs, they have kept below the budgeted percentage.
Going past the balance sheets, Dr. Kizito echoed MURBS’ dedication to the over 3,000 active members building their dreams and the close to 5,000 retired members enjoying the fruits of their long service.
At the back of MURBS dedication, he recognised the ambassadorial framework that was designed to support incoming trustees and the proactive efforts to reach members.
As Dr. Kizito concluded, he expressed gratitude for support and reception from University Council, Management, URBRA Uganda, Trustees, Ambassadors and MURBS members.
He reiterated the scheme’s focus remains on innovation, governance, and growth which will continue to be achieved through digital transformation to improve service delivery and ensuring every member’s records are up to date.
All this is done in effort of ensuring that when the time comes for a member to retire, they do so with confidence and financial peace of mind.
MURBS Evolution From High Risk to a Benchmark Scheme
Ms. Daisy Lynda Nabakooza, Chief Manager Supervision and Market Conduct at Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) recognised MURBS success saying it “comes from the good working relationship” between its trustees and experts, and that “the MURBS trustees usually have the information on hand,” which “is a plus.”
On the status/impression of the fund, Ms. Nabakooza revealed that ten or so years ago, when she had just joined URBRA, MURBS was one of those schemes that was “high risk” due to “unremitted contributions.” Thankfully, “the sponsor Makerere University has since embarked on having these unremitted contributions, remitted over a period of time.”
Now, “MURBS has become a benchmark for many schemes.” Ms. Nabakooza said as a regulator, they “really commend MURBS on the work done in terms of compliance.”
Ensuring a Dignified Retirement for Staff through MURBS
Professor Henry Alinaitwe, representing the Vice Chancellor emphasised the ultimate goal is the well-being of the university community during and after service. He referenced a local proverb, saying, “Buto n’ekorera bukuru,” explaining that “when we are here, and still young and working, what we are able to do and put aside will help us in the future.”
He expressed the University’s strong commitment to staff welfare, saying, “we do not want to see ourselves or fraternity really suffering when they are leaving university or when they have since left the university. We want to see people living well and prospering even in their retirement.”
Professor Alinaitwe acknowledged the work done by MURBS team in growing the scheme noting that since 2021, the fund has more than doubled raising from UGX 225 Billion to over UGX 500 Billion. The Vice Chancellor concluded his message by pledging Makerere University‘s good will to ensure sustenance of the fund for a dignified future of its staff.
The Chairperson of Council Dr. Lorna Magara in her message delivered by Hon. Daniel Fred Kidega expressed genuine satisfaction with the current trajectory of the retirement scheme, noting, “I want to congratulate the trustees, the management of MURBS, for maintaining a healthy organisation. When I was looking through the figures, I felt very happy.”
This financial health is not just a statistic but a foundation for the staff’s future. The Chairperson urged the leadership to “maintain the good health of the scheme and let members enjoy their savings.”
Beyond the numbers, the Chairperson Makerere University Council made a heartfelt plea to the board on human impact of the scheme, stating, “I plead with the board of trustees, to avoid delays when it involves the living families of members who are no longer there in service; dead or retired.”
Ultimately, as shared by Hon. Kidega and Professor Alinaitwe, the University vision is ambitious, it involves making MURBS one of the best retirement schemes on the continent and in the world where even those still in service can access resources and make their life better.
About MURBS
Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme (MURBS) is a mandatory employer scheme for Makerere University staff, established by the university under an irrevocable trust. On 23 April 2010, MURBS was registered as a corporate body under the Trustees Incorporation Act, CAP. 165, and it commenced operations on July 1 2010.
Following the enactment of the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority Act, 2011, MURBS was established as a voluntary occupational scheme under the new law. The scheme is licensed by URBRA (License Number RBS.0005).
On 21 June 2021, the Minister responsible for Finance, Planning and Economic Development exercised his powers under the law to approve MURBS as a superannuation scheme in the “Exempted Employment” category under the NSSF Act.
The two-week training programme aims to equip government officers with practical skills to assess project viability, manage investment risks and ensure public resources deliver value for money.
The Public Investment Management Centre of Excellence (PIM CoE) is strengthening the capacity of government officers to undertake financial appraisal and risk analysis of public investment projects through a two-week training programme designed to improve the quality of project preparation, appraisal and decision-making in Uganda.
The training, which started in Fort Portal on October 19, 2026, brought together participants from various government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), alongside facilitators from Makerere University, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Cambridge Resources International (CRI), the National Planning Authority and the Uganda Development Bank.
Officially opening the training on behalf of the Permanent Secretary/Secretary to the Treasury, Ms Esther Ayebare, Acting Assistant Commissioner in the Project Analysis and Public Investment Department of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, emphasised the importance of rigorous project appraisal in strengthening Uganda’s public investment management system.
She noted that projects admitted into the public investment plan must be aligned with national priorities, technically sound, financially viable and capable of delivering value for money.
“Government must be able to compare investment alternatives and ensure that only viable projects proceed through the public investment process,” she emphasised.
Ms Ayebare explained that sound appraisal enables government to make informed investment decisions, maximise returns on public expenditure and ensure that limited public resources are directed towards projects with the greatest potential to deliver development outcomes.
Building practical skills for better investment decisions
The training builds on the Public Investment Management course conducted in June, which introduced participants to Uganda’s public investment management framework, including project conceptualisation, stakeholder analysis, project costing, implementation action plans, the Integrated Bank of Projects, and monitoring and evaluation of public investment reforms.
The current programme advances this foundation by equipping participants with technical competencies in financial appraisal, financial modelling and risk analysis.
Participants will explore integrated investment appraisal, alternative investment criteria, cash-flow statements, inflation and exchange-rate movements, asset valuation, project financing, project scale and timing, risk-sharing arrangements and cost-effectiveness analysis.
Through practical exercises and case studies, participants will apply these concepts to investment scenarios in sectors such as roads, health, education and water. The programme will also examine how climate change, social considerations and other risks can be integrated into project preparation and appraisal.
Ms Ayebare encouraged participants to engage actively with the facilitators, question the practical application of the tools and consider how the skills acquired could improve investment decisions within their respective institutions.
She also reminded participants that the programme includes an examination and that certification requires more than attendance. Participants are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and acquire practical skills that they can apply in their work.
Reducing dependence on externally prepared studies
A key objective of the training is to strengthen the ability of government institutions to undertake high-quality project appraisal studies using their own technical teams.
Ms Ayebare observed that many studies submitted to the Development Committee have traditionally been prepared by external consultants, often at considerable cost. Building the capacity of public officers to conduct these studies independently can help institutions strengthen their technical expertise and improve the quality of project proposals presented for consideration.
She urged participants to take full advantage of the facilitators’ expertise and return to their institutions equipped to undertake sound financial appraisals and provide evidence-based advice to decision-makers.
She further emphasised that project approval requires thorough preparation, analysis and justification, rather than simply identifying available funding and proposing a project to utilise it.
Strengthening public investment management through capacity development
In his remarks, Prof. Edward Bbaale, Director of the PIM CoE, thanked the Ministry of Finance for its financial support and for identifying participants from government institutions. He also recognised the contributions of the facilitators and partner institutions in delivering the programme.
Prof. Bbaale noted that the Centre’s work extends beyond training to include research and advisory services aimed at improving public investment management practices. He encouraged continued collaboration with government institutions and other partners to advance research, knowledge sharing and capacity development.
Speaking during the training, Dr John Sseruyange, Manager of the PIM CoE, highlighted the importance of commitment, active participation and punctuality throughout the programme. He encouraged participants to engage with the facilitators, ask questions and apply the knowledge gained to the projects they support.
Dr Sseruyange also acknowledged the Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, for financing the training, and appreciated Cambridge Resources International for its continued support towards improving public investment preparation and analysis in Uganda.
The training reflects ongoing efforts to strengthen Uganda’s public investment management system by equipping public officers with the knowledge and practical competencies needed to assess projects rigorously, identify potential risks and make informed investment decisions.
By developing in-house expertise across government institutions, the programme seeks to contribute to better-prepared projects, more efficient use of public resources and improved delivery of Uganda’s development priorities.
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