Bill punishes NGOs despite their huge contribution to reforms and growth

By Makau Mutua
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000146104/bill-punishes-ngos-despite-their-huge-contribution-to-reforms-and-growth

Makau Mutua
Every Kenyan knows that the freedoms we enjoy today are attributable to yeoman work of civil society. That point is unarguable. The 2010 Constitution — one of the most progressive in the world — wouldn’t have seen the light of day without civil society. Nor would there have been progress in ......
important sectors such as the Judiciary, the police and law enforcement agencies, and workers’ rights. That’s because NGOs, the independent eye of the people, have relentlessly fought for the rights of Kenyans. They have done so under the most challenging conditions, including naked state brutality. Some have paid the ultimate sacrifice — given their lives — to secure the rights of others. Yet, it is now — once again — open season on NGOs. I know — and understand — that government generally has an oppositional stance towards NGOs. That is as it should be. NGOs shouldn’t cozy up to the government. Their job is to audit the state, and hold it accountable on behalf of the people. NGOs that become lapdogs of the state are a scourge on the sector. That’s because NGOs are the cartilage between the state and the public. Remove that cartilage and you have no shock absorbers for state tyranny — no speed bumps to slow the instruments of coercion. This much is clear — democracy can’t exist without a fiercely independent, vibrant, and effective NGO sector. That’s a fact of the science of government, not conjecture. Anything else is hogwash. It’s in light of these facts that I am alarmed — nay, enraged — by the Jubilee government’s assault on civil society. President Uhuru Kenyatta took the auspicious occasion of Mashujaa Day — of all days — to raise a fist against civil society. He questioned the sector’s patriotism, and maligned it with the taint of foreign agency. This was extremely unfortunate. See also: Jubilee taking Kenya on a dangerous path But Mr Kenyatta’s came on the heels of the Public Benefits Organisations Bill whose thrust is to choke the life of human rights NGOs. The key provision would limit to 15 per cent the amount of funding an NGO could receive from foreign international funders. To-date no logic has, or can be, articulated to explain, let alone justify, such a draconian measure. The measure is untenable for another reason. If foreign money taints NGOs and makes them unpatriotic, what of the state? Isn’t the Kenya government living large on foreign money — most of it from the United States? Can we infer then that Kenya is a foreign agent of the United States? That’s simply absurd. No one that I know of is opposed to the regulation of civil society. Nor is anyone afraid of opening their books to public scrutiny. NGOs are some of the most transparent organisations in Kenya. Donors require that NGOs account for every penny. If truth be told, it’s the government that allows corrupt public officials to pilfer money given to it by foreign governments and institutions. I know the Jubilee government has been unhappy with human rights NGOs for their work on the 2007 post-election violence. Some folks within the state blame The Hague cases facing DP William Ruto and previously Mr Kenyatta on civil society. They allege — which I regard with utter incredulity — that NGOs either “procured” or “coached” witnesses against the two at the International Criminal Court. Let me state for the umpteenth time that NGOs aren’t responsible for the woes facing Kenyans at The Hague. No one “procured” or “coached” witnesses. That’s simply not how the ICC works. It’s totally unacceptable to seek to punish NGOs out of pique for something they never did. This witch-hunt must stop. The state, Jubilee, and those connected to the status quo need to stop looking for scapegoats. They should stop demonising civil society. They’ve used all manner of crude language to describe NGOs and some of the doyens of civil society. They’ve referred to civil society as the “evil society.” Some of those using this troubling language were themselves in civil society during KANU’s heyday. Don’t they see any irony? Societies advance not because everyone in them sings in unison like a parrot. Countries grow out of the contradictions in them. It’s not an accident that most of the developed countries are also among the freest in the world. Shut down civil society and you close down the country’s brain. Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000146104/bill-punishes-ngos-despite-their-huge-contribution-to-reforms-and-growth