The Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 2013, published on October 30, seeks to cap the amount of foreign funds NGOs can get to 15 percent of their budget.
NGO representatives meeting under the banner of the CBO Reference Group accused Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru of allegedly sneaking in the controversial clauses with the aim of controlling the civil society and the youth council.
Suba Churchill and Sheikh Ahmed Ramadhan who spoke on behalf of the group argued the law would sound a death knell to the country’s vibrant civil society.
“The court option is one of them but we will also resort to what we are known for, we are so good at mobilizing the public… nobody beats us when it comes to mass action. So we will resort to all those actions to ensure that this bill doesn’t become law,” he said.
In the new Bill which NGOs have already interpreted as aimed at clamping down on their activities, they will not get more than the 15 percent of their budget from foreign countries if they demonstrate extraordinary circumstance why they require the funds.
“In our view, this bill is a poison that will destroy all Kenyans. We would not be enjoying the extended human rights and constitutional freedoms we are enjoying now if it was not for the CBOs which stood up against oppression of yesteryears,” added Sheikh Ahmed Ramadhan from the Nubian Minority Lobby Group.
If it sails through the National Assembly and gets assent by President Uhuru Kenyatta, this could severely affect NGOs and the civil societies most of which depend 100 percent of their budgets from foreign funding.
Even then, the extra funds will be channelled through a federation.
The Attorney General who is the author of the Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 2013, which proposes to amend clauses in the Public Benefit Organisation Act, has defended his amendments saying they were aimed at rectifying conflicting clauses in it.
“It is not a secret anyone that a few in government think that a few individuals or organisations in the civil society are to blame for the ongoing cases at the ICC. There is every indication that part of this bill is aimed at targeting certain organisations most those that deal with human rights and governance that are suspected to have come to the rescue of the victims of post election violence,” Churchill stated.
The controversial sections are contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2013 as amendments to The Public Benefits Organizations Act, 2013 (No. 18 of 2013).
Section 27 A (2) states: “A public benefit organization shall not receive more than 15 percent of its total funding from external donors.”
On the other hand, section 27A. (1) states: “Any funding of a public benefit organization shall be made through the federation and not by an individual members’ organization.”
Faith Gitonga said generally, the amendments to the initial law are good but the two new sections on foreign funding which have allegedly been sneaked in are meant to control the NGOs sector which in some quarters are deemed to be anti-establishment and this could spell their death
“We feel that the body under the PBO Act if it is established and given the resources and support will be able to do its work very well and pinpoint those organisations that need to be route out as well as support those are doing a good job to well effectively,” she stated.
“There is no reason why there should not be a structured, functional relationship based on shared development goals and other principles. To design legislation that aims to punish a few, whatever the state’s impression of the utility of their work, and then end up debilitating an entire sector is something the state would be well-advised to avoid,” the CBO Reference Group Executive Director.
The PBO Bill, 2012 which became law having been assented to by retired President Kibaki on January 14 last year was meant to bring order into the sector.
The PBO Bill 2012 was the product of a foresighted Member of Parliament, Sophia Abdi Noor, who consulted representatives of the country’s development sector, key government departments like the Non-Governmental Organizations Coordination Board, and led the development of a new law that was not only in conformity with the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 but was also reflective of a shift in government-civil society relations.
capitalfm
capitalfm
Post a Comment