Coming fresh from the famous draconian Kenya Information And Communication Bill passed by the parliament that supposedly projected to gag the media,yet another bill that will affect lives of many Kenyans has been introduced.Published 30th,Oct,the miscellaneous amendment bill 2013 seeks to cap the amount of funding NGOs and civil societies receives from foreign sources by constricting the allowed amount to be not more than 15% of the total budget.This spits in the face with the reality being most NGOs and Civil societies in Kenya depends 100% on foreign funding so by the 15% constriction,it basically means the death of such organizations.The controversial sections are contained in the Statute Law(Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2013 as amendments to The Public Benefits Organizations Act, 2013 (No. 18 of 2013). Section Section 27 A(2) states: “A public
benefit organisation shall not receive more than 15 per cent of its total funding from
external donors.”Section 27A. (1) states:
“Any funding of a public benefit organization shall be made through the federation and not
by an individual members’ organization.”If this Amendment is passed and unfortunately with the tyranny of numbers it could, there will be NO more Public Benefit Organizations in other words Civil societies and NGOs in KenyaAmerix,health consultant and medical practitioner based in the western part of Kenya,NGOs forms an indomitable part of the economy especially in the grounds,”NGOs are doing a great job in this country. Especially in the health sector. For a person living with HIV, NGOs are the source of his ARVs” says AmerixThe bill also comes at a time when a section of legislators especially jubilee affiliated have been accusing the civil societies and NGOs of being puppets of foreign donors and also have been said to being responsible for taking Uhuru to the Hague. The bill now awaits parliamentary debate and if it sails then to the president,if it eventually get to become a law then the consequences are as read.
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