Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Authority (Ngora) has given NGOs up to March 31 to secure licences for 2025 or have their operations in the country shut down.
Briefing the press in Lilongwe on Tuesday, Ngora chief executive officer Edward Chileka Banda said out of 1153 registered NGOs in the country, only 167 have so far submitted reports to Ngora on activities that they undertake, which is a requirement for them to secure licences for 2025.
He said that in 2024, 649 out of 1132 registered NGOs submitted the reports to Ngora.
Chileka Banda has since warned that NGOs operating without licenses after the deadline will be considered non-existent, further urging NGOs to submit reports to Ngora to facilitate the renewal of their licences.
He said: “Our expectation is that NGOs will take this notice seriously because we do not want to appear to be punitive to operations of NGOs. They already know it is important for them to operate legally by registration as well as reporting their work.
“We don’t want the public to be taken advantage of as we get reports, complaints and grievances from different stakeholders, including some NGOs and communities, complaining that some NGOs have not been transparent in their operations and probably abusing resources that are meant for people.”
Without specifying which NGOs have not submitted reports, Chileka Banda said the call to make reports applies to both local and international NGOs.
But in his remarks, National Advocacy Platform chairperson Benedicto Kondowe said in as much as the call to have NGOs make reports and renew licences is in line with the NGO Act, Ngora needs to give room to those will not be able to make reports by March 31 2025 saying NGOs require funding to meet the obligation.
Last year, about 60 percent of the NGOs submitted reports to Ngora and the reports showed that NGOs handled money totaling K734 billion. The financial statements for the 40 percent had not been established.
