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Fourth
quarter 2007
NGO bill debate postponed for more consultation
Controversial bill seeks to tighten rules on registration
The government has decided to postpone debate on its controversial
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) bill, legislation widely seen as an
attempt to curtail the activity of NGOs.
Justice Minister George Kunda, who had presented the draft legislation to
the Zambian parliament in July, said the government had since decided to
defer debate to allow for further consultation.
The bill, which seeks to introduce tight rules regarding the registration,
management and operation of NGOs, calls for the registration
and co-ordination of NGOs - [and] to regulate the work, and the area of
work of NGOs operating in Zambia. Under the bill, NGOs would be required to submit quarterly reports of
their activities and re-register each year. Failure to do so would result
in suspension.
If it was to become law, the bill would empower the Interior Minister to
form a ten-member board comprised of government members and two
representatives from civil society, which would receive,
discuss and approve the code of conduct [of NGOs], and ... provide policy
guidelines to NGOs for harmonising their activities to the national
development plan of Zambia".
A Zambia Congress of Non-Government Organisations would also be
established.
Proposals for the bill caused outcry among civil society groups and aid
donors, who said it was draconian and aimed to restrict the operations of
NGOs in Zambia, especially those involved in human rights work.
They said the bill would effectively enable the Minister of Home Affairs
to single-handedly register or deregister an NGO, meaning some NGOs could
be forced to close down.
Opposition members of parliament also opposed the bill, which they said
went against the constitution that guaranteed freedom of association,
assembly and expression.
Civil society leaders said the new law was a ploy by government to silence
its critics and erode the role of civil society. They subsequently called
for a total withdrawal of the bill.
"We believe that this is a very sad moment in the life of
Zambia's civil society. The bill is dictatorial and seeks to
constrain and limit the space for civil society in the
country," Lee Habasonda, director of the Southern African
Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes [SACCORD], a human rights
and good governance watchdog, was reported to have said.
"This sends very wrong signals and threatens the existence of
NGOs, in that if the board is to be directly under the Minister of Home
Affairs, then it means this same board will be de-registering, at will,
any NGO whose style the government does not like," he added.
The bill proposals also prompted a group of around 40 NGOs led by the
Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD) to issue a joint statement
calling for self-regulation, arguing that they did not need government
intervention. The group was instead proposing the bill be revised so that
a board existing solely of NGO representatives was established to create
policy for NGO regulation and co-ordination in Zambia.
"We feel that just as the Law Association of Zambia
internally regulates its activities, civil society organisations in Zambia
are mature enough to regulate themselves," the group of NGOs
said.
NGOs are currently registered by the Registrar of Societies, a
quasi-government organisation. However, after they are registered the
government has little power to restrain NGOs from voicing political
dissent. Any attempt to de-register an NGO is usually followed by long
court battles.
This is the first attempt by the government to regulate civil society
since the onset of multiparty democracy 16 years ago, when Kenneth Kaunda,
president since Zambia's independence from Britain in 1964,
was unseated in 1991 by former trade unionist Frederick Chiluba.
Zambian civil society has been a strong force for change in recent years.
It was pivotal in forcing Kaunda to abandon one-party rule and adopt
multiparty democracy, it helped block Chiluba's bid for a
third term of office in 2001 and, during the tenure of current president
Levy Mwanawasa, has maintained pressure for the adoption of a new
constitution.
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