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"id": 242877,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs",
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"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was seconding this very important Sessinal Paper. Last week, I said that Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have played and continue to play a very critical role in our 2100 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 13, 2006 country. I also said that when the NGOs sector evolved in Kenya, it was the presumption and belief of both the Government and everybody else involved that self-regulation was would govern them. We now all know that the process of self-regulation in the NGOs sector has failed. We also know that NGOs have largely deviated from the noble causes that they were meant to serve this country. We also know that NGOs have now become avenues for quick profits. They have also become instruments where persons, some of very dubious characters and devoid of any honesty, get in and mop up money and put it to bad use. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Sessional Paper outlines that it expects the Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to be governed by principles of justice, probity, sustainable development, subsidiarity, sustainable resource generation and use, democracy, honesty, ethical operations, prudence, respect, service, accessibility, self-regulation and control, humility, professionalism, gender equity, accountability, transparency, participation, complementarity, partnership building and so on, and so forth. Reading this Sessional Paper is like making a statement of what the NGOs are not. All of them are operating far from these noble principles. I would like to see a situation where, once we pass this Sessional Paper, as I said last week, the Minister must move very quickly and effect it with a proper legal framework, because a Sessional Paper has no legal authority and is not going to tie down anybody from obeying the good tenets that we have here. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me say something about international NGOs. This Sessional Paper has also clearly indicated that international NGOs shall be required, through this policy, to support local NGOs through training, transfer of technology, sub-contracting of their tasks and so on, and so forth. Kenya is one of the few countries where white men and women walk in carrying briefcases, set up an NGO and continue milking money, both locally and internationally, to live like kings, considering that they are nobodies where they come from. The new legal framework must ensure that those who want to run the so-called \"International NGOs\", unless we are talking of critical interventionist NGOs like the Red Cross, the World Food Programme (WFP) and so on, we do not want to have some strange white people coming here to run NGOs to teach us about democracy, things that we already know; or opinion polls, things that our boys and girls can do. They never account to anybody how much they raise in their countries. All you see is them driving in huge four-wheel drives, with cocktails on a daily basis, and so on, and so forth. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need a legal framework to govern international NGOs here, if we are devoid of local talent. If we have local talent, I do not see the reason why we should have some strange white characters to come here to tell us who amongst us is the right person to be elected as the President, something we can do ourselves. This is what my friend here, the Minister, must do after we pass this Sessional Paper. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the legal framework that will follow this Sessional Paper must also control the reckless manner in which NGOs live in seminars. They call them awareness seminars and capacity building seminars, even in areas where we already know that there is enough capacity. As I said earlier, we were told that in a year, NGOs in this country receive up to Kshs46 billion or Kshs47 billion, which is enough to even build the roads that we are crying about. What do they do with the money? Nobody can tell. We even have NGOs that are supposed to be engaged in tree planting. Where are the trees? We do not see them anywhere! Where are the forests that NGOs have planted? Nowhere! All you see is good living and nothing else. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Sessional Paper is so critical that having failed to regulate themselves and without taking away the noble cause that they are supposed to do, we need to define clearly the roles of the State, citizens and civil society in the running of NGOs. There are many countries you can go to and see that NGOs have done a commendable job. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about NGOs in our country. Nothing states clearly about this more clearly than July 13, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2101 the NGOs involved in the HIV/AIDS campaign. Some of us who come from areas where HIV/AIDS is prevalent spend a lot of time burying people dying of this disease. In those funerals, we never see a community based organization or an NGO that will come and say: \"We are involved in the HIV/AIDS campaign. We have done the following and we advise people to do the following to avoid this disease\". All we always hear, as we are digging the grave, is that they are somewhere in a seminar on awareness, empowerment or even something that is not related to HIV/AIDS. We do not mind people doing private work, but they must be honest to the cause for which they undertake this work. The responsible Ministry must take care of this. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if NGOs were properly run, there are a lot of things they can do. There are a lot of resources that come into this country in the field of health, education, democratization and many other fields. Last week, I told you about some fraudster who cheated us in the 1997 elections and we never knew that he used our names to make millions of shillings until the auditors came round and asked us whether we had received the kind of money that the character had taken and fled to the USA. This is despicable! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, of late, you have seen what has been happening in the NGO Council. If that is the umbrella organization that is supposed to bring NGOs to order and in line with the expectations of the public, then God help us! You have seen what is going on there; fights and abuses. I once saw on television the Chairperson of the Council, who was locked in a room peeping through a keyhole and shouting unprintable words. Is that what they are elected to do? Is that how they are going to regulate themselves? That is the more reason why we need a respectable regulatory body. Once this Sessional Paper is passed, the Minister should bring amendments to the NGO Act. We want to have a regulatory body that is beyond reproach. We want to see a regulatory body which is not staffed by friends and relatives of the Ministers and their cronies. We want a body that is truly a reflection of the interests and wishes of the people of this country. It is saddening to go to the countryside and see tired and emaciated citizens of this country suffering from all manner of diseases or even hunger, and next to them is a well-fed character carrying a briefcase and running an NGO that is supposed to help that emaciated person. This is scandalous! I do not think there is any single hon. Member whose constituents and constituency has not been visited by these fraudsters in every respect. It is now time we brought sanity and order to this sector. This sector is complementary to Government efforts in alleviating poverty. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have even seen some NGOs that are supposed to be participating in the development of crops. But what do you see around? All good living and no crops being developed! I want to appeal to the Nobel Laureate, hon. Prof. Maathai, that we want to see a lot more of her Greenbelt Movement participating in the process of afforestation in this country. Given the pinnacle at which Prof. Maathai sits today, anybody will put money on her organisation for tree planting. Personally, I cannot count a single tree in my constituency that has been planted by the Greenbelt Movement. Maybe, the Greenbelt Movement has been planting trees in Central Province, but not in the region I come from. We want to benefit from local talents. Prof. Maathai is a pride to all of us. We want to see that the process of afforestation is championed and led by her and credible NGOs associated with her. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I come to an end, I want to laud one of the policy statements that this Policy Paper carries: Development of local talent and capacity. It is absolutely important that those who are involved in the running of NGOs are persons with proper capacity. They should be persons who are properly trained and capable of executing the duties that their offices call. If we are able to do this and adhere to the set principles of complementarity, participation and partnership, this country will move in the right direction. I am sure that in each of our constituencies, the cumulative total of NGO money coming in is more than the Constituency Development Fund money that we receive. However, you can see what the CDF money has done and what it is doing, but you cannot quantify what NGO money does. Instead, it is breeding competitors to hon. Members, councillors and other leaders without 2102 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 13, 2006 helping the ordinary man. I also want to urge the Minister that those who steal money that comes their way by pretending to manage NGOs are not any different from ordinary criminals and thieves. So, the law must deal with them in the correct manner. I know an NGO operating in Mr. Wamunyinyi's constituency, which is supposed to deal with cereals. However, the NGO does absolutely nothing with cereals except politics. That is what NGOs do everywhere. Therefore, we want the law to take its course and make sure that the people get what they deserve. Above all, the regulatory Ministry must do its job. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate Mr. Shakombo; being a new Minister, he has innovatively thought of bringing such a Sessional Paper to this House, to seek its enrichment and approval, to enable him bring a legal framework. With those many remarks I beg---"
}