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“All NGOs to Account for Donor Funds”
Herald - Zimbabwe
March 10, 2005All Non-Governmental Organisations will now be required to account for money that they received from donors, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Cde Paul Mangwana said yesterday. Speaking after a lengthy meeting with the acting UNDP resident representative, Mr Benard Mokam, Cde Mangwana said the Government had now extended the requirement to all NGOs.
Initially, the Government had only demanded accountability from NGOs that received money under the Consolidated Appeal Programme for humanitarian assistance. "All NGOs have a duty to account for their activities to Government as clearly spelt out in the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act and as is the case with the Internationally Accepted Principles.
"This is what we are simply asking them to do. We are not fighting them. We simply want to promote a culture of transparency and accountability," said Cde Mangwana. With immediate effect, all ministries have been asked to submit lists of NGOs that they were working with.
Cde Mangwana said a committee that had already been set up by his ministry was going to randomly pick NGOs that have not been accounting for the money given to them. He said the primary focus was on the NGOs to account for the money that they received between 2003 and 2004.
In addition, said Cde Mangwana, all NGOs should submit annual financial and technical reports that reflect the money that they receive each year and the activities that they undertake during each particular year. Cde Mangwana said his ministry had consulted widely with both the donor community and the UNDP and that all stakeholders in total agreement with the Government's position.
Mr Mokam said it was important to note that the Government's position was not peculiar to Zimbabwe alone but was a worldwide practice. He said there was nothing out of the ordinary in the Government's insistence on NGOs to account for their activities, as it was the practice with both governments in the developed and developing countries. Mr Mokam said no donor agency was challenging the Government's desire to have NGOs account for the money they received, but on the contrary had actually encouraged NGOs to disclose to the Government information that it required. "What is important for everyone to understand is that it is an obligation for NGOs to account to the Government," he said. He said it was important for the Government, donor agencies and all the other stakeholders to continue to consult each other.
Turning to other issues raised during the meeting with the Minister, Mr Mokam said they had expressed concern at the delays in the delivery of letters to some of the affected NGOs, which appeared on the list issued by the Government. He said some of the NGOs that were named on the list issued by the ministry had not yet received their letters notifying them on the need to account for the money they received, which was going to delay their response.
At least 30 non-governmental organisations were this week reported to be facing prosecution after they allegedly failed to account for more than US$88 million mobilised through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) after the Government made a consolidated appeal to the international community for humanitarian assistance in 2003.
The Government had written to the NGOs giving them March 11 as the deadline by which they should have accounted for the money or face appropriate action under the PVO Act. Under the PVO Act, the minister can either suspend or launch an investigation into the operations of an NGO or prosecute the offending organisation or its directors for abusing public funds.
Some of the NGOs that the minister wrote to are German Agro Action, World Vision International, Goal, Help, Africare, Care International, PSI, Advance Africa, Family Health, FGI/Zapa, DHS, CRS Strive, IAA, JSI, Dai/Lead, Save the Children, Swedish Co-operation Centre, Fost and Sahrit.
The US$88,7 million was mobilised through the NGOs after international donors had put in a condition that the money should not be handled by the Government. But the money was deemed public funds because it was raised on behalf of the Government and the people of Zimbabwe.
The allegations of donor fund abuse by NGOs have come a few months after the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill - which seeks to control the operations of NGOs - was passed by Parliament last December. The Bill seeks to provide for an enabling environment for the operations, monitoring and regulation of NGOs.
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