THE challenge by former Women for Change executive director Emily Sikazwe to the police to investigate leaders of non-governmental organisations accused of abusing donor money deserves serious attention.
Dr Sikazwe made the call when she featured on ZNBC TV’s Sunday Interview programme.
We are cognisant of the fact that the NGOs play an important role in supplementing government efforts in the delivery of services to the people across the country.
They have a vast network which enables them to reach the people at the grassroots.
But some of the people heading these NGOs have turned them into money-spinning ventures.
Some of them have built mansions and running lucrative business using money meant for projects.
It is also an open secret that there is a lot of infighting in many NGOs. These fights are often over control of the organisation’s resources.
It is partly for this reason the government came up with the NGA Act number 16 of 2009.
The NGOs have been calling for accountability and transparency in the management of the country’s affairs.
They have been receiving a lot of money from mostly foreign donors to fund programmes aimed at holding the government to account.
Surprisingly when the same was demanded from them they raised a lot of dust, accusing the government of ill-will.
Right now some of the NGOs have refused to register with the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
It is difficult to understand why the NGOs are not comfortable with the government knowing the sources of their funding.
There is no need for the leaders of the NGOs to be jittery if their hands are clean.
Those who are alleged to have embezzled or misapplied resources meant to support the poor should be investigated by relevant government investigative wings.
We support Dr Sikazwe’s suggestion that those leaders of NGOs who are suspected of stealing donor money should be prosecuted like anybody else.
Why should police, Anti-Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission arrest and prosecute government officials over allegations of corruption when NGO managers facing the same allegations are free?
We also agree with Dr Sikazwe that there is need to strengthen the office of the Registrar of Societies.
There is need to increase the capacity of this office to monitor these NGOs. In fact it needs a fully-fledged inspectorate to perform this particular function.
While it is true that the NGOs need to operate in a free environment there is also a need for the government to know where their money is coming from and what they are using it on.
Some people have formed NGOs for the sole purpose of enriching themselves and their friends under the pretext of supporting the poor.
On the NGO Act we urge the government not to bend to the NGOs’ demands if making the amendments they are asking for will not be in the interests of the nation.
Let there be accountability and transparency in the NGOs, just as they have been demanding these virtues from the government.
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