While Besigye’s treason trial and the Global Fund inquiry are hitting the headlines, the government has passed a bill which some commentators fear could be used to frustrate the operation of Uganda’s 7,000 NGOs.
The Non-Governmental Organisations Registration Amendment Bill, passed by Parliament on 7 April requires all NGOs to acquire a new licence from the newly established NGO Board within the next three months. The new licence must then be renewed after one year, renewed for a second time after two years, and again after five years. The NGO Board will then continue to “monitor” NGOs after that period according to Mr Amama Mbabazi, the Minister of Defence, who presented the bill to parliament.
The NGO Board will be able to revoke the licence of any NGO that fails to conform to its objectives, or with a constitution that is judged to be in “contravention of the law”.
But what worries the NGO community is the composition of the NGO Board. It won’t be judges deciding whether NGOs are operating within the law, but a set of political appointees from government ministries, and two representatives from the Internal and External Security Organisations. NGOs themselves are not represented on the NGO board at all.
According to NGOs, the real reason for the bill is security. They say government sees Uganda’s vibrant civil society as a threat and want to control it. They fear that government will use the bill to frustrate and deny registration to NGOs that it dislikes, particularly those criticising government and working in human rights.
NGOs say government doesn’t understand their role in a healthy society.
Uganda’s thousands of NGOs are recognised in the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) for delivering health care, education, water and sanitation, and a massive range of services that government is unable to provide. Their strength is often that they are not part of government, and that allows them to work with constituencies that do not benefit from direct government action.
They argue it is their role to hold government accountable, to highlight its failures and advocate solutions.
Their fears have been raised further by recent comments by government ministers.
“NGOs have to be watched… otherwise you may be putting a serpent in your own closet," said Mr Tarsis Kabwegyere, the Minister of Local Government, debating the bill in Parliament.
A week later, NGOs from Northern Uganda were invited to Museveni’s ranch and accused of undermining the government’s efforts to end the war.
"These NGOs have been undermining the country's security interests by telling lies on what is going on in the northern Uganda. This time round they will not have space to propagate their ideas," said Minister of State for Information Nsaba Buturo, last month.
NGOs say the existing practice where they are required to periodically review their Registration Certificates and provide a range of documentation is a sufficient mechanism to facilitate any honest monitoring process.
The new rules requiring registration four times in five years will, they argue, make it difficult for NGOs to plan and fundraise over the medium to long term, force them to contract employees on a short-term basis, increase administrative and legal costs while reducing the amount of grass roots work, and force them to act in such a way as not to anger those in authority.
Monitoring, they say, is ultimately the responsibility of grant agencies, trustees and civil society itself. “NGO stands for Non-Governmental Organisation: we are not part of government, we are autonomous, and independent. Government should be helping us,” said a representative of the Coalition on the NGO Bill (CONOB).
The coalition, which includes the Uganda NGO Forum, HURINET, the Uganda Debt Network, Transparency International, the Anti-Corruption Coalition, and Uganda Women’s Network met on May 3, 2006 to decide on a response to the bill.
The coalition have produced an alternative bill designed to meet the needs of civil society: to protect the donors and public against fraud, to crack down on ‘briefcase’ NGOs, and to encourage government to enable civil society to grow by encouraging co-ordination and co-operation among the over 10,000 NGOs and CBO.
CONOB is currently planning protests against the NGObill and lobbying to get its alternative bill adopted by government.
If you’d like to join the discussion on the NGO Bill, click here.
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