A Copperbelt based senior citizen has praised government for coming up with a mechanism of closely checking on Non Governmental Organizations who were receiving resources from the donors to see whether such resources were reaching the intended beneficiaries.
Mr. Paison Kasompe told ZANIS in Ndola that government should be commended for the mechanism of following up on NGOs who were claiming to be doing some projects of assisting the poor in communities to see whether they were indeed doing something on the ground.
He said there were many NGOs which were claiming to be addressing certain community problems with the people but there was no corresponding effect on the ground.
He said it was important for government to strengthen the monitoring and checking mechanism for all registered NGOs so that through such efforts, there could emerge strong institutional systems which should be user friendly in ensuring that the poor people in the community were not just being paraded as justification for receiving donor aid but in fact not the beneficiaries.
He added that it was shocking that most NGO directors were living luxurious lives and driving the most expensive vehicles at the expense of the poor people registered in their books for donors to see.
Mr. Kasompe said it was important for government to take interest in what NGOs were claiming to be doing on the ground through such follow up checks on where the purported support from well wishers and donors had gone after a year or two of receiving it.
He said many NGOs were lacking administration capacities and needed to be helped in areas where they were manifesting weaknesses.
He said through various registration offices it was important for government to come up with a directory for all NGOs even going from district to district and measure the relevance of the existing NGOs in the communities they claim to be serving.
He recommended that those which do not live up to their mandate should be helped through linkages and networking mechanisms with others in order for them to become useful and relevant in society.
ZANIS