By Juliet Nalwooga
The National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO Bureau) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs has halted the operation of 54 NGOs over non-compliance of set regulations under the NGO act 2016.
Addressing journalists at the media center, the bureau’s executive director Stephen Okello says 23 of the NGOs have been suspended for operating with expired permits while 16 others have been operating without registering with the NGO Bureau.
Some of the affected NGOs whose operations have been halted under immediate effect include, Africa institute for Energy Governance, AFIEGO, Witness Radio Uganda, Support Girl Child Uganda, Saints Preparation Ministries, Adoration Ministries, and Orphanage Foundation among others.
Okello meanwhile says 15 NGOs have been indefinitely suspended for failing to file annual returns and audited books of accounts.
These include; the Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), chapter four Uganda, Femrite, Citizens Platform for Democracy and Accountability, and the Centre for Conflict Resolution among others.
Okello has now called upon all stakeholders from the National, District and Sub-County levels to help in enforcing the decision to ensure affected organizations halt their operations with immediate effect.
He adds that only NGOs and CBOs that are duly registered, with valid permits and those compliant with submission of annual returns and audited books of accounts, will be allowed to operate.
The move comes months after government suspended operations of the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) which has been funding most of the operations of several NGOs.
