There have been many things said about NGOs
and a lot of what has made it to the public space has been hostility.
Perceptions about the sector include the fact that NGOs answer to foreign
donors and thus have no local interests, that the sector is full of fraudsters,
that it is a get-rich-quickly personal poverty eradication programme etc.
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| Kawive Wambua stresses a point at a media briefing |
The
sector workers and operatives have not helped matters – what with the
wrangling, the presence of several NGO Councils, the prevalence of people who
form organisation and get money from donors and then don’t do what they propose
to do. The sector has had a bad name. The multiple registration regimes for
civil society groups was big blessing since the KANU era stifled the operating
environment and curtailed the operation of these organisations.
It is still a
blessing to the whole question of voluntary organising and the freedom of
association. But what this has led to is an inability to regulate the sector on
a uniform set of mutually agreed rules. The
fact that there has not been an enabling legislation setting out a system of
norms and practice has indeed been the problem.
This must be changed, this must be
corrected and a new operating environment – that clarifies issues for both the
sector workers and the general public. The Cabinet of the Republic of Kenya
realised this and developed a Cabinet paper in 2006 and later a Cabinet Memo in
2008 requiring that a new framework for regulation of the NGO sector be
developed. It is our opinion that a change in how the sector is managed can
only be realised if and when the proposed public benefits organisation (PBO)
Bill 2012 is enacted.
The
Bill was developed by civil society organisations in Kenya led by the CSO Reference Group, an umbrella body of
civil
society organisations formed in 2009 to
support CSOs in Kenya review the NGO Coordination Act no 19 of 1990.
It was published in the Kenya Gazette Vol.
CXIV – No.35 on 4th May 2012 as a private members Bill with the
support of Hon. Sophia Abdi Noor, Chairman, Parliamentary Committee on Labour
and Social Welfare. The Public Benefit Organizations (PBO) Bill 2012 seeks to
achieve a new legal, regulatory and institutional framework for civil society
organisations (CSOs) doing public benefit work in Kenya.
The process for the development of the bill has been the most
participatory as compared to any other bill. There has been systematic
consultation with sector players in thematic groups and in regional blocks. The
government department responsible for the sector – the NGO Board- has
contributed immensely to the process and there have been wide consultations
with leaders both in and out of parliament – including structured dialogue with
the relevant government departments and the Parliamentary Committee on Labour
and Social Welfare
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| CSO Reference Group Members EzraMbogori and Faith Kisinga |
The first thing the Bill does is to define what a Public Benefit
Organization (PBO) is. This is because organisations
need to know that they exist not because of the founders or workers, but
because of Kenyans. In the Bill, a PBO is defined as “a voluntary grouping of
individuals or organizations that is organized and operated locally, nationally
or internationally, to support or promote public benefit”.
The Public Benefit Organisations (PBO) Bill
2012 if enacted into law will lead to a strong Public Benefit Organisations
sector promoting social welfare and improving the conditions and quality of
life for the people of Kenya.
It will also be easy to create greater
coherence coordination with the Government, private sector and development
partners, enforce high standards of governance, transparency and accountability
by organizations – including the provision that members of governing body of an organization
respect gender parity, do not come from same family, are persons of high
integrity and with a clean public record.
Most important is that the PBO Bill 2012
proposes mechanisms of compliance with the Constitution of Kenya as enacted in
2010.
The Bill sets out clear mechanisms to be used for an organization to
gain the status of a PBO. These include democratization of the governance
framework in the organization. If enacted, the Bill will ensure that
My-Own-NGOs (MONGOs) are eliminated and instead we will have functionally
useful institutions that serve the greater public good.
Enacting the bill will enable the government to have a uniform system
of norms by which to hold the sector accountable. The sector will also be able
to get benefits in a systematic way from the state. Tax exemptions and funding
for CSOs are some of the proposed benefits when an organization complies with
the PBO status as outlined in the Bill. We foresee that the problem easily
associated with “a foreign agenda” will be eliminated.
The Bill has gone through the first and second reading and is awaiting
the Committee stage before it is enacted into law. At this time, all citizens,
citizen groups and other interested parties are free to contribute inputs,
critique and make suggestions on how to make the PBO Bill better. Petitions and
comments can be sent to the Parliamentary Committee or forwarded through the
CSO reference Group. Let us all participate!
Kawive Wambua
Executive Secretary, CRECO
&
Co-Chair CSO Reference Group
