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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support this Sessional Paper. In supporting it, I would like to emphasise the policy issues which the paper has highlighted at the back because they are noble. When you look at the policies we have in place, you will see that they do not give us clear guidelines that NGOs are supposed to follow if they are to succeed in bridging the gap. Capacity-building is a very elusive policy, first of all, because it does not indicate areas where capacity is lacking. If we train people so as to improve on capacity-building, we have to know whether the training is necessary in order to raise the capacity of the beneficiaries to a level where they become more productive in the society. Capacity-building also requires that if the beneficiaries will work in the country, then their training be universal in nature, as far as the nation is concerned. You will find that NGOs mainly concentrate on holding workshops, conferences and trying to go into very trivial projects like installing a water tap, which, according to them, is part of building capacity for an individual. I have dealt with NGOs and supported them. However, each time we tried to get deeper into what they were doing in order to bridge the gap, and put supplementary effort, taking into account that the major work was being done by Government Departments and institutions, we would face problems. So, the gap that is supposed to be filled by NGOs is not clearly identifiable, and they should be held responsible for what they do. The more we delved into what the NGOs were doing, the more we seemed to be irritating them. Those running the NGOs would start hiding from us, especially if you worked for the Government. However, if you were in the Opposition, they would be happy because they knew your role was to agitate for them. I also worked with NGOs when I was the Minister for Trade and Industry, under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) projects and in regional cooperation projects. Many NGOs would approach me after identifying projects, and would eventually lead us into perpetual situations where we would be left condemning them. So, I hope that the capacity-building they are supposed to deal with will be clearly identified. The capacity-building should be undertaken by an NGO for a period which should be evaluated, because it is very difficult to hold them accountable for their actions. Each time you want to know where funding is coming from and how much is budgeted for a certain project, you may end up landing into problems immediately because they do not like auditors. Therefore, the question of transparency and accountability does not really exist. In most cases, you will find that most NGOs serve their establishments more than the community they are purported to be serving. They tend to work very well in remote areas where accountability is very difficult to implement and where people complain and need a few emergencies of what they provide. The role of the NGOs is difficult because it has not been defined world-wide. When you look at other countries, you will also see that they do not understand what their NGOs do. I want to encourage the Minister who will implement this Sessional Paper to find out how NGOs can have a way of defining and quantifying their programmes in advance, so that we see how much personnel they need for training, how much resources they require, how the project will be implemented, and how it will relate to other programmes which are taking place. There is a lot of duplication in some cases. You will find that there is an NGO that deals with water, yet under the Ministry, there is a water programme going on in the same area they are 2104 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 13, 2006 serving. So, there should be a system of implementing projects, whereby the Government should allow an NGO to take over a project after it has completely done away with it. There should be clear guidelines. The health sector is also affected by duplication of projects. We need to know about the training and transfer of technology. We also need to know what type of technology is involved and who is funding it. The NGOs also need to accept to be audited like every other body. That should be done by NGO bodies together with the Ministry, and other civil societies that are interested so that we know exactly the role of NGOs. In that case, they could also be evaluated and placed in areas where they can perform better. They should also be criticised in areas where they fail. In the social aspect, they should also be monitored so that they do not act as an opposition to an existing member of Parliament, councillor, or to a particular leader of a region. They should be located in areas where they can do something good and not to interfere with social and political aspects of the country. In terms of sub-contracts, there is a tendency to get relatives or friends to run NGOs, instead of getting the true professional people who can deliver. That can continue for very long and the moment you question, you get into a problem. Accountability and reporting should be done annually so that they can be assessed for relevance to the community, so that their role is seen, accepted and recognised. It should be a complementary role which enhances our own development endeavours. In short, I wound like to say that NGOs are welcome, but they should be ready to be accountable and transparent. They should give us a profile of their projects. That will enable us to know what projects they are undertaking and the benefits. I am talking about a cost benefit analysis. That way, the country will know whether they are doing a good job or not. NGOs should play a complementary role where there is a weakness. They should be able to demonstrate that they are directly supportive of the national endeavour, and that they are doing something in all aspects of the society. If they involve themselves in politics, they should tell us where the problems are, so that something can be done. If there is a weakness in any other area, they should show us so that we can develop the capacity. The people should also know how NGOs operate. I find NGOs very useful in negotiations. They get involved, criticise and do a lot of homework. They pin-point to you where the weaknesses are. So, as far as the critique of the problem at hand is concerned, they are very good. However, when you move away from critique to positive action and productivity, they fail. They fade away. The moments their files are looked at, they become a bit itchy. They should be able to work with us in a very cordial and supportive manner. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the question of communities vis-a-vis other communities in terms of private and national interests, that should be limited as far as we are concerned. I agree with the hon. Member who contributed before me. What we saw at the NGO Council was not good. It shows that there is something that basically wrong in our own society. The NGOs coordinating body should provide a mechanism for dispute resolutions so that, whenever there is a problem, change is done in the simplest way. They should not embarrass people. Their work should reflect the status of Kenya. Kenya is a very advanced country today. The human resource that we have today is as good as any other in the world. The only problem we have is poverty. So, if we intend to help the poor, we should do so properly. We should not give them false hope. We make them believe that they are going to achieve a lot, only to find out later that those were just promises. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}