No n – Governmental Organisations Regulatory Authority (Ngora) has asked all NGOs operating in the country to comply with legal and policy frameworks by December 31 2024 or risk suspension or closure.
Briefing journalists in Lilongwe yesterday, Ngora chief executive officer Edward Chileka Banda said NGOs are required by law to register before they start their operations in the country and also submit annual reports to ensure accountability and transparency.
He said: “A recent assessment shows that many NGOs are not meeting these requirements. The purpose of these reports is for the government to understand the activities NGOs are undertaking, the impact on society and any challenges they face.”
Banda said Ngora’s assessment found that 344 NGOs are operating without valid licences, 173 lack registration certificates and 419 have not submitted their 2024 reports.
He warned that organisations failing to comply with these legal frameworks may be targets of criminal activities, including money laundering, theft, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation.
In June 2023, Ngora reported that 65 percent of local and international NGOs failed to comply with the legal requirement to submit annual audited financial reports.
Based on financial statements submitted to Ngora in 2021, only 307 NGOs out of 715 submitted their reports. The 307 NGOs were reported to have received grants amounting to K429 billion of which K412 billion was recorded in expenses.
The Council for NGOs in Malawi (Congoma) stated that the purpose of the reports is to know what the NGOs are doing on the ground and maximise their impact.
According to an NGO Sector Report of 2021, between 2016 and 2021, compliance rate has remained below 45 percent with 2021 registering the highest 43 percent while 2016 registered a low five percent.
In January this year, civil society organisations (CSOs) under the National Advocacy Platform called on government to review regulations for the Non- Governmental Organisations (NGO) Act 2022, arguing there are still some provisions that are a threat to operations of the NGOs
