We also sought to protect and defend our sovereignty from foreign interests, which seek to take advantage of genuine need in our society to infiltrate and destabilise us. Or which seek to turn a small section of mercenaries in our midst into the proverbial Trojan Horse for attacking our sovereignty, our values and our politics. The goal was never helping the poor; the target was always challenging our sovereignty and hard-won independence under the guise of helping our less privileged.
It is regrettable that a sector meant to do good for the weak and vulnerable has over the years got infiltrated and weaponised against our nation and our people, including the very poor in whose name and for whose benefit the sector arose to serve in the first place.
Any responsible Government would not stand idly by as this happened. Corrective action had to be taken to cure such mischief. It has since been taken through this enabling legislation, which now empowers Government to protect the weak and vulnerable, while fortifying our sovereignty against insidious encroachment by these hostile forces.
Bona fide non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have nothing to fear. These will continue with their Godly work and vocation by serving the needy and the poor, thus augmenting the many safety nets which Government put in place and continues to finance for the benefit of the vulnerable and the less-privileged in our immediate communities and in our broader society.
The same also holds for those involved in genuine advocacy work. The new law allows them to raise awareness and arouse the collective conscience of our society on those rights and interests we must never overlook, rights and interests we must seek to safeguard and protect at all times. Indeed, any society, ours included, is as humane and as compassionate as it treats and provides for its needy, weak and vulnerable.
Government held several meetings with church organisations in order to allay any fears or misgivings they may have had regarding this proposed law.
Our churches have been in the forefront of doing humanitarian work. This Godly role must be nurtured, furthered and protected. To that end, governance structures envisaged by the new law for the sector will incorporate churches so they bring their honest, beneficent influence to bear on all actors.
What prompted Government to draft and sponsor this Bill was the deteriorating conduct of several organisations, which Government had registered in good faith and allowed to operate in our country as PVOs.
In spite of the clarity of the law then, and of terms and conditions for registration, some NGOs wilfully departed from their original, founding mandates. Worse, many had become a law unto themselves, all in the name of defending and serving the poor.
Others abused resources donated to assist the poor to self-enrich themselves. Accountability had broken down and fortunes were being made in the name of our poor. That was callous.
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