The Public Benefit Organisations Regulatory Authority (PBORA), formerly the NGO Coordination Board, is encouraging organisations to file annual returns as it emerges that only 2,829 have filed out of 12,000 registered organisations.
Speaking during the commemoration of NGOs Week at Mama Ngina Water Front in Mombasa, PBORA Director Mwangangi Mwania said the returns will assist the government in planning and to know the money the NGOs have pumped into the country.
“We can also direct them to areas that need more support. If they don’t make returns, we won’t be able to know what they are doing, whether they are moribund or need more support in terms of regulations,” said Mwania.
He encouraged the organisations to be accountable by performing functions they have been mandated to avoid being sanctioned.
Mwania reiterated the government’s commitment to implement the new law, the Public Benefit Organisations Act, 2013, which came into force on May 14, 2024, after court cases that halted its operationalization.
The act has repealed the Non-Governmental Organisations Co-ordination Act, of 1990, and all NGOs will now be known as Public Benefits Organisations (PBOs) and will have one year since the operationalization of the act to register as PBOs.
The new law gives space to PBOs by encouraging self-regulation and is progressive. Mwania lauded PBOs for augmenting government efforts to develop the country.
“We note that in the year 2022-2023, they spent close to Sh200 billion on development initiatives in this country. They employ a large number of Kenyans in the implementation of these programmes,” said Mwania.
“We are happy they are assisting in development initiatives and building capacity for organisations and individuals in our country,” he added.
He encouraged the PBOs to align their programmes with the government agenda as espoused in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
“We have issues to do with climate change, the promotion of agriculture, health, water, and all other initiatives that empower the local people. We ask them to contribute to supporting the government agenda,” said Mwania.
Jacob Odari, PBORA Director, reiterated the importance of filing returns for the government to ascertain what they are doing.
“It’s important to know what organisations are formed to do. What we have realised from other parts of the world is that organisations are formed to carry out certain illegal activities that are not helpful to the public,” said Odari,
“The good thing about the new law that has come into place is that you have space. If there is any decision that has been made by the authority and you feel that your rights have been infringed, there is a procedure for review of that particular decision,” he added.
Helping Hand Organisation Secretary Hakim Habib urged the PBORA Directors to inform the National Treasury to exempt sanitary towels, and assistive devices from taxation as they form the bulk of their donations to the vulnerable in society.
By Sadik Hassan
