Government willing to make amendments to the controversial NGO Act-Katema

Community Development, Mother and Child Health Minister Joseph Katema has revealed that government is willing to make amendments to the controversial NGO Act.

Under the 2009 NGO Act, all NGO’s working in Zambia both local and foreign are required to register with the newly created NGO Registration Board for regulation purposes.

The NGOs are also required to disclose their sources of income and how such incomes are expended through quarterly reports to the NGO Registrar.

But some local and foreign NGOs have resisted registering under the NGO Registration Board.

They argue that the Act giving birth to the NGO Registration Board is flawed and contradicts the Republican Constitution.

Government has since threatened to deregister all NGOs that will not comply with the registration deadline.

Community Development, Mother and Child Health Minister Joseph Katema says there is no need for the NGOs to be antagonistic over the matter.

Dr Katema said NGOs should simply comply with the requirements of the law.

“They simply cannot opt out. They need to comply with the law. As a government, our duty is to implement the law but we cannot operate in a vacuum,” Dr Katema.

“We have already told them (NGOs) to bring to use fresh amendments to us and we will consider them. For now we cannot operate in a vacuum, something has to be in put in place to guide their operations.”

He said the NGOs are pushing an open door because government has not refused to amend the NGO Act.