The National Constitutional Amendment Committee has proposed for self-regulation of Non-Governmental Organizations – including the omission of their yearly registration with the government.
The NCAC made the suggestion during the ongoing review of the NGOs Act 2016 in Juba.
The process listened to views from lawmakers, relevant ministries, civil society groups, national and international NGOs, women, and youth on the NGO act amendment bill 2023.
Gichira Kibara is the National Constitutional Amendment Committee.
“I think the main amendment is to ensure that the issue of registration is clear and that you don’t need to register every year,” Kibara said.
“You register once, then if necessary you can be given an annual license, but registration had been done every year which is not a good practice,” he stated.
“Once the NGOs are registered, should be able to operate throughout and should be monitored by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. The other major change is the provisions for self-regulation because we are only one in the region that does not have provision for self-regulation.”
On her part, Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng says the national NGOs are vital in providing support in areas that the government cannot reach quickly.
“Today, I don’t see national NGOs prospering, we need them. The government alone cannot reach the people at the grassroots, so we need national NGOs to be supported and nobody can support them if not us in the government.”
“So, we need to see us contributing to the nation-building of this country in many ways.”
The two-year peace roadmap obligates the National Constitutional Amendment Committee and the unity government to review the 2016 NGO Act in line with international best practices.
The Constitutional Amendment Committee was expected to submit the draft of the amended bill to the Ministry of Justice by the end of this month.
But the committee said it will take a little longer to finalize the amendment.