Otafiire opposes NGOs on NGO Bureau rationalisation

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The internal affairs minister, Maj. Gen. Kahinde Otafiire, has overruled Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on their opposition to the government move to rationalise the NGO Bureau saying it is intended to improve service delivery.

“The fact that we are rationalizing these government agencies is an indicative of malaise that has been going on in the functioning of these MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies) and it’s in the interest of our people to try and save much money as possible,” he said.

He was speaking during the launch of the CBOs verification and validation exercise and CBOs register at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala that kicked-off on Thursday (June 20, 2024).

Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, Minister of Internal Affairs. (Photo by Mpalanyi Ssentongo)

 The launch, coincided with a dialogue meeting between Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), CBOs and government on streamlining the operations of CBOs.

The civil society fraternity recently urged President Yoweri Museveni not to approve the NGO (Amendment) Act, 2024, citing concerns about the rationalisation of the NGO Bureau.

Parliament on April 23, 2024, Parliament passed the NGO (Amendment) Bill for the year 2024. The bill is currently awaiting the president's assent to become law.

Under the Bill, the mandate to monitor, oversee, and regulate the operations of NGOs and CSOs were transferred back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be handled at the departmental level.

L-R: Diarmuid McClean, Deputy Head of cooperation Embassy of Ireland to Uganda, Margaret Ssekagya, founding member and Executive Director of the Human Rights Centre Uganda, Simon Peter Kinobe, Board Chairman NGO Bureau, Lt. Gen. Joseph Musanyufu, PS Ministry of Internal Affairs and Steven Okello, Executive Director NGO Bureau launching the CBO verification registers. This was during a dialogue meeting between NGOs, CBOs, and Government at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Photo by Mpalanyi Ssentongo)

Relatedly government officially flagged-off the registration and validation exercise of all community based organisations (CBOs) across the country in a fresh move to standardise their operations.

The executive director of the NGO Bureau, Stephen Okello, told reporters that save for the over 3000 CBOs officially in the state records that will be registered and validated during the exercise, they hope to cover many more others currently operating without government authentication.

The launch, coincided with a dialogue meeting between Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), CBOs and government on streamlining the operations of CBOs.

“All CBOs in this country are going to be verified and validated and we shall need to see some evidences including a copy of your valid operation permit, we need to see a copy of your registration certificate that was properly issued by the district authorities,” he said.

He added; “We want to streamline all these processes so that by the end of these three months from July to September, we have clear standards of operations and data.”

According to government, the officially known CBOs across the country, stands at 3226.

“However, we are very convinced that the number is way above that. The moment we streamline this, we shall share information with the country and you will be shocked to discover that there are tens of thousands of CBOs in this country,” Okello said.

The standardized CBOs register, Okello said has got 20 fields and about five sub-fields to help capture all the relevant details of a CBO including the name, the sub-county, the funds and their source.

“Originally all districts and cities had their own registers that they had designed, others had only two to three fields that could not capture comprehensive information. So we have launched this register but we also have soft copies so that you are able to make use of that information and also share it with the Bureau,” he said.

The CBOs, among others complained of being overcharged by local governments even out of regulations.

The standard fees under the NGO Fees Regulations of 2017, CBOs registering are supposed to pay sh40,000 and afterwards pay sh60,000 for the permits to be issued.

“What is coming out of the engagements we have had with CBOs, the districts are charging different fees, with others charging way beyond sh100,000 to cover both the permits and certificates. The good news is that ministries of local governments and internal affairs have committed to work together to have all these things harmonised,” he said.

Margaret Sekaggya, the executive director at the Human Rights Centre Uganda, celebrated dialogue series they have had with the government for the last seven years on the challenges facing the NGO sector.

“We have proposed solutions that will ensure mutual respect and harmonious relationship with the government and to ensure exclusivity and transparency,” she said.

Equally, Simon Peter Kinobe, the chairperson of the NGO Bureau highlighted commitment of the NGOs continued engagement with government to iron out all the outstanding issues.