KAMPALA – The report has indicated that most Non-Governmental Organizations – NGOs have low trust in their regulators including the National NGO Bureau, the Financial Intelligence Authority – FIA, Kampala Capital City Authority – KCCA, Uganda Registration Services Bureau – URSB and the Uganda Revenue Authority – URA.
During this year’s edition of ‘Talk to Your Regulator’ symposium on Wednesday, Dr James Nkuubi – Executive Director, Network for Public Interest Litigation noted that there is a deep mistrust with both the regulators and NGO players being skeptical about the activities of the other.
“We have found misgivings, for example about the Financial Intelligence Authority because it doesn’t give feedback even when you file because some people believe they are being targeted even when there is no particular examples that have come up since Uganda came up with laws of NGOs caught in money laundering or terrorism.”
He revealed that the district NGO monitoring committees is the least trusted largely because they are not funded, and sometimes they come up with their own rules.
The report indicates that the NGOs are increasingly progressing on best practices, for example, on the data protection office who carry out a number of meetings with civil society.
Yona Wanjala, Executive Director, Defenders Protection Initiative notes that the trust is there “but it has been positioned in a lot of thorns” which makes it not health trust.
“This requires everyone’s efforts, regulators and NGOs. Let’s know our mandate and put in place all requirements for building trust.”
He is optimistic the findings will greatly inform the reforms in the NGO regulatory environment and will improve the performance of NGOs when it comes to compliance.
Ms. Alicia Van Den Boom – head of cooperation at the Germany Embassy, noted that the civil society is much more need for the functioning of the state because they are the link between government and the population at large.
“On one hand, they collect voices from the people in particular the most vulnerable to bring them to the attention of the government. They also help to disseminate and explain government policies, policies to the people in a way that everyone can understand.”
She gave an example that in Germany, civil society organisations also have to bring social services to all parts of the country and that most ambulances are run by civil society organisations.
Lazurus Mukasa – deputy head of FIA urged the NGOs to guard against money laundering and terrorism financing to ensure that bad elements do not destabilize the country
He noted that although the risk rates in the sector remain low, there have been attempts to send illegal funds to an NGO
“The results show that all NGOs broadly were at low risk of terrorism financing but few specific categories were identified to be at a higher risk than the rest. NGOs which operate teachings of the Quran but also NGOs which operate in areas of insecurity have high terrorist threats.”
Stephen Okello – Head of the National NGO Bureau advised the NGOs to do capacity building at all levels but also to recruit compliance officers.
“If you don’t have a compliance officer and you think CEO is the one to remember each and everything, then you are going to always find yourself on the other side of the laws.”
