By Wezzie Gausi
Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Authority (Ngora) has issued a 90-day ultimatum to organisations that are working in the country, asking them to register or get closed.
The ultimatum has been issued after reports of some organisations duping unsuspecting people.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lilongwe Wednesday, Ngora Chief Executive Officer Edward Chileka Banda said the authority is issuing licences to NGOs that submitted reports in 2023.
He said all NGOs that did not comply have been instructed to comply by March 31 2024, beyond which non-compliant NGOs shall not be allowed to operate in Malawi.
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“If your organisation is struggling with compliance, please notify the authority. Further to this, the authority would like to notify all NGOs that have not complied for the past three years that they will be deleted from the NGOs database and the authority will impose relevant penalties,” Banda said.
Recently, Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Minister Jean Sendeza said it is through the process of registration that government can know the number of NGOs that are legally working in the country.
“It is against the laws of Malawi to have an organisation working in this country without being registered. We, as the government, want to have a database of all the NGOs and know what activities and development agendas they are helping the government achieve,” Sendeza said.
In 2023, Ngora was expected to get 706 reports for the financial year 2022.
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However, only 432 reports were submitted by NGOs, representing a 61 percent compliance rate.
Even though the compliance rate was high for the just ended year in comparison to the previous years, there are 147 NGOs that did not comply and therefore their information is not updated.
