Devolution CS Waiguru revokes deregistration of NGOs

Devolution Cabinet Secretary, Anne Waiguru, has revoked deregistration of 957 NGOs that had been accused of financial malpractices to give them time to comply with regulations.

In an exclusive interview with Citizen TV on Friday, Waiguru said that the decision had been reached following consultations with NGO Board after she received overwhelming complaints from the affected NGOs.

She stated that the suspension will give the organisations time to comply with the NGO Board rules.

This comes just hours after the NGO Board gave 957 organisations a 14-day notice of deregistration, threatening to freeze their accounts on suspicion of money laundering.

Several NGOs have come forward to claim innocence over the allegations, effectively throwing the entire exercise into disarray.

“We have had quite a number of complaints about timelines thus prompting us to suspend the deregistration process to give the NGOs more time to comply,” said Waiguru.

The NGO Board had accused the organisations of misappropriation of funds, funding terrorism, money laundering, diversion of donor money, and failing to file their audited books of accounts as required by law.

“The NGOs responded at once and thus prompting us to review our documentation. I don’t think we could do that in two weeks, so what we have decided to do is relook at the whole process,” she said.

The NGOs were to be deregistered for allegedly failing to account for Ksh23 billion out of Ksh140 billion received from donors.

Some of the NGOs mentioned include Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), the African Population and Health Research Centre and the African Development Solutions.

Other NGOs accused of failing to declare their books of accounts include Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation, associated with Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) co- principal Kalonzo Musyoka, Airtel Foundation and Ahadi Trust Kenya.

KHCR expressed its dismay on appearing in the list, adding that there had been no prior communication, information and inquiry regarding the issue.

A statement from the NGO Board revealed that about 200 NGOs complied with set regulations on Saturday with the period for compliance being extended.

Executive Director of the NGO Coordination Board, Fazul Muhammed, had issued a two-week ultimatum to the non-compliant NGOs to put their houses in order or risk being deregistered.

The Board had initiated the process of deregistering 957 non-compliant NGOs and forwarded the list of the NGOs poised for deregistration to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Kenya Bankers Association to freeze their bank accounts.