Platform created to address issues between NGOs, regulators
Non-government Organizations have asked the government to relax the punitive regulations affecting the operations of the entities.
During the launch of the Talk to Your Regulator event organised by Defenders Protection Initiative today, the team leader of Defenders protection Initiative Yona Wanjala says among the punitive regulations that the government should consider scrapping off is the Shs2 million fine paid by the NGOs when they fail to file their monthly returns to the National NGO bureau.
He says, Shs2 million is a penalty in the law governing operations of non-government organizations in the country but affects the operations of a number of these institutions.
He made the remarks at an engagement meeting where over 600 non-government organizations were addressing the issues affecting their operations to the key regulators.
The Talk to your regulator program aims at creating dialogue spaces for the NGO actor players, and inform and engaging with different regulators.
Mr Yona Wanjala called upon both the NGOs and the regulators to respect the dialogue space that has been created and to come up with solutions affecting the sector.
“This is a dialogue space, when you raise a concern, it will also be good to give a recommendation. We expect participants and regulators to respect the dialogue,” he said.
He added that the platform created by the Defenders Protection Initiative is a search for solutions from the regulators.
“The talk to the regulator is a search for solutions. We brought these regulators to answer, clarify and listen to our concerns of compliance,” he said.
The regulators included Kampala capital city Authority, the Financial Intelligence Authority, NITA-U, KCCA, the National NGO bureau, and the Uganda Registration services bureau among others.
The executive director of the NGO bureau, Stephen Okello commended DPI for coming up with such a platform that is going to solve the issue of mistrust between the NGOs and the government.
“The biggest challenge is the mistrust between the government and the sector and so we need to use dialogue like this to address these challenges,” he said.
In addition, Geoffrey Sajjabi, the Chief Commercial Officer, NSSF has commended NGOs for religiously paying their NSSF savings.
“NGOs are one of our top client entities i.e they pay their NSSF regularly,” he said.
Defenders Protection Initiative has emphasized that this platform will not only stop in the central but will be taken to other parts of the country.
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