There’s good reason why NGOs must be held to account

By KIRATU KAMUNYA

It is now well established as a cardinal principal that there is no freedom without accountability. There is however an erroneous view and which is increasingly gaining currency that to call for accountability for  institutions which have amassed sufficient public character is to lord over them with dictatorial tendencies. Nothing can be further from the truth!

Openness and transparency are key ingredients to build accountability and trust in a functioning democracy. Openness is about being transparent and accessible to anyone, anytime and anywhere.

It is also about being responsive to new ideas and demands. Transparency must also stretch to budget processes accompanied by the free flow of information.

With the rapid growth in number, influence, and effectiveness of NGOs, there is a greater demand for their accountability to their stakeholders and the society as a whole.

The very fact that NGOs aspire to improve the lives of the poor means that they have committed themselves in some manner to perform activities on behalf of others; their ability to accomplish what is expected and promised is fundamental and necessary to their relationship with others as well to the community or the poor.

Such organisations are as a result not free of critique, expectations and input from those whom they serve and receive legitimacy and funding.

The Government as the custodian of the citizens’ welfare must step in and guard public interest lest private interests and agendas including self enrichment are advanced in the name of the people.

With this in mind, even though the proposed Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 2013 to the Public Benefits Organisation Act was defeated, we must design of a way of triggering a rebirth of values within the sector by establishing an effective legal, regulatory and responsive institutional framework for NGOs.

The aim is to ensure that the NGOs, whose GDP is estimated at over Sh250 billion, are being harnessed to benefit the country and prevent losses estimated at over Sh130 billion per year through pilferage. It is both morally and legally unacceptable for organisations to enrich individuals behind them at the expense of what has been publicly stated as their core mandate.

There is growing concern that most NGOs are nothing more than conduits through which money is channeled into the pockets of greedy individuals who only use the plight of their pet subjects as bait for ignorant donors.

The sprawling Kibera slum is a case in point. Crafty organisations have over the years been able to lure unsuspecting donors into opening the flood gates of donations by turning what is clearly an eyesore into a cash cow.

Great salespersons

This story is replicated across the country where organisations have milked the plight of the poor and the desperate for financial gain and yet most of them are portrayed as non-profit making or charitable organisations

On the other hand, there is lately an engrossment with matters governance, democracy and human rights by most of these organisations. The ICC has recently featured prominently on top of these organisations’ menu. Like good salespersons, they know what is trending in the market at a given point in time and they immediately cruise in that direction.

They live by the simple adage that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Of course this comes at a price which will borne by the public in the end.

To begin with, when these organisations present themselves for auction to the highest bidder, values are compromised. Foreign interests which endanger the public welfare can easily be filtered through these willing accomplices to the unsuspecting public.

In the run up to the last general elections, the term regime change gained a lot of currency with fears being expressed to the effect that certain western donors were advancing some dubious and curious agenda through local NGOs.

The same fear has been rife on the question of ICC.  With what is unfolding at the prosecution arena in The Hague, it is clear that investigations by the prosecution leave a lot to be desired. One of the most prominent views in explaining this sorry state of events is that the prosecution received concocted evidence at a fee from certain NGOs with vested political interests and working at the behest of local and international masters.

As a result, legal regulation should not be viewed as an attempt to tame NGOs. It is aimed at infusing a sense of duty, accountability and direction.

The writer is a lawyer with Maina Ngaruiya Advocates.