21 May 2019

Some international anti-terrorism organisations have placed Botswana in a grey area due to non-compliance to financial intelligence requirements by non-profit organisations (NPO).

This was said by the Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs Mr Ngaka Ngaka at an NPO Pitso held in Francistown yesterday (May 21).

He said money laundering and terrorism financing were trying to penetrate the country through NPOs which included non-governmental and faith-based organisations, clubs and burial societies amongst others.

He said it was disheartening that the most targeted organisations were faith-based including churches which played a significant role in national development and in communities.

“They indeed complement government’s efforts in service delivery and social protection for citizens via philanthropy and taking care of everyday and today’s needs of the society as a whole,” he said.

Churches, he pointed out, contributed immensely to the promotion of democracy in Botswana hence targeting them was a serious drawback.

He said NGOs had become a very important factor in promoting the values of democracy and re-establishing a relationship between the state and communities.

Minister Ngaka explained that NPOs were also recognised as advocacy agency that contributed immensely to policy dialogue and development.

He said they were also able to represent the people’s interests and ensured that policies were adaptable to real life situations.

Minister Ngaka said good governance was key to the functioning of NPOs because it implied effective management of the entities’ resources was done in a transparent, accountable, equitable and responsive manner.

“Since NPOs aim at becoming sustainable, then good governance is critical to their existence.

However, it has been observed that in many instances, NPOs often lack the institutional capacity and resources to operate,” he said.

He noted that donor funding and finances in general were sometimes poorly managed which was why good governance was important to every NPO.

He said there were a number of ways in which NPOs could improve their governance and management operations which included capacity building programmes for different categories, compliance to constitutions of societies as well as financial accounting and budgeting systems.

Other challenges confronting NPOs were lack of leadership accountability and authority as well as lack of accountability by the members to ensure the leadership was answerable for their action or inaction.

Minister Ngaka said this had resulted in disintegration, internal conflict, mismanagement, abuse of office and authority and generally lack of active participation in the decision-making process by all stakeholders, members, and leaders.

He said the state of affairs was undesirable and ultimately undermined the constitutional right of people to associate.

It was against this backdrop that government found it necessary to amend the Societies Act in 2015 to establish the Advisory and Arbitration Council whose mandate was to guide and advise the minister on issues pertaining to registration of societies and related matters as well as to arbitrate in case sof dispute within and between registered organisations, the minister said.

He said in light of the mentioned challenges, his ministry had introduced some models to guide drafting of constitutions for different categories of organisations.

“As leadership, you have to ensure that your general membership understands your constitution as well as the mandate and functions of the different structures that you have put in place to manage the effectiveness of your society,” he said.

Minister Ngaka said more NPOs dipitso would be held across the country to raise awareness and educate NPOs societies about the dangers of money laundering and financial terrorism.

In her welcome remarks, Francistown mayor, Ms Sylvia Muzila said most donors were now targeting trusts and faith-based organisations by using their accounts to deposit huge sums of money knowing the banks would not question the source.

He thanked the ministry to have found it fit to hold such a Pitso in Francistown saying the city was not exempted from issues of money laundering and terrorism financing. 

The ministry’s permanent secretary, Ms Kebonye Moepeng said since 1973, government had registered 9 783 societies but only 2 000 complied with the legislation which called for their cancellation.

“We have started to put a close eye on these societies so that they are canceled,” she said.

The Pitso themed: The Role of Good Governance among NPOs was aimed at increasing public awareness on the importance of registration,  issues of money laundering and terrorism financing as well as to promote understanding of proliferation financing by NPOs. ENDS