By Nathanael Simbilyabo
Members of the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme are set to benefit from an interest rate of 12.33% on their savings towards retirement for the financial year ending December 31, 2025. This was announced during the annual general meeting held on June 11, 2026.
The announcement was preceded by the growth in total value of the Scheme’s investment portfolio to UGX 13.65billion in 2025 compared to UGX 10.72billion recorded in 2024, translating into a 27% growth.
While the declared rate is marginally lower than the one credited for the financial year 2024 (12.89%) it is higher than the average annual percentage return on the scheme for the previous six years (11.77%).
In his presentation of the Trustee’s report, the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Godwin Awio observed that the AGM offers the trustees and service providers the opportunity to account to the membership and make necessary adjustments where need be.
The financial reports revealed that there was an increase in contributions amounting to 38 percent from UGX 1.92billion in 2024 to UGX2.64 billion in 2025. In addition, the Scheme made voluntary contributions totalling UGX 50.6million to improve the retirement saving of members.
Dr. Awio applauded the university, the Scheme sponsor, for always making timely contributions to the scheme and called upon the members to make voluntary contributions alongside the mandatory ones, pointing out that such saving earns interest and improves their retirement income.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Finance and Administration David Mugawe on behalf of the sponsor acknowledged the trustees, service providers, and members for their dedication to the Scheme so far and expressed the university’s appreciation for schemes that promote welfare of staff.
In his comments on the side of the AGM, Brian Bongomin of Enwealth Financial Services highlighted the impressive growth of assets of the Scheme after it started being professionally externally managed since 2018.
“Considering the condition of the Scheme back in 2018 and now, one can easily perceive the effects of consistent contributions, sound governance and proper investment,” he explained, adding that the asset base in 2018 was around UGX 4billion and rose to over UGX 13.65billion by the end of the 2025 financial year.
Rev. Stanley Wereeba, a member who enrolled in 2013 while the Scheme was being administered internally by the university, says he has seen the positive impact of joining the Scheme.
“I get a certain amount of money each month contributed to my retirement account and that is why I feel happy. It’s always important that when you retire you should have some funds that will take care of you and your loved ones,” Rev. Wereeba commented.
The Scheme made payments totalling UGX 1.07 billion to exiting members during the review year as opposed to the previous year when they made payments totalling UGX 958.5 million. This increase in payment was attributed to exiting members with higher balance accumulation in the Scheme.
There were 384 members in the Scheme by the end of 2025, as compared to 422 in the previous year. The decrease was caused by member retirements, further education, staff movement, and other employment related activities.
Founded on January 1, 2013, the UCU Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme was formed to provide retirement benefits for eligible staff either at the point of retirement or termination of employment and in case of demise of members, benefit nominees.
The sponsor of this Scheme is the university which contributes 8.3 percent of the salary of each eligible staff while the members contribute five percent.
The Scheme is run through licensed service providers under the regulation of Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA). These are Enwealth Financial Services who are the administrators, Britam Asset Managers who are the fund managers, Bank of Africa who are the custodians, and J. Samuel Richards & Associates who are the auditors.
Looking ahead, the Board of Trustees said it will continue prioritising financial literacy programmes, strengthening compliance monitoring, and pursuing strong investment performance to ensure continued growth in members’ retirement benefits.
