Turkana MCAs pass motion to fight 'briefcase' NGOs
Jeremiah Lomorukai, the governor of Turkana County, whose MCAs have passed a motion in a fight against NGOs with questionable operations.
What you need to know:
- The motion tabled by majority leader Stephen Edukon (Turkwel) on Thursday revealed that some NGOs are operating in the county but their activities are unknown by national and county governments authorities and they are not employing locals.
Members of the Turkana County assembly have passed a motion to ensure accountability by non-governmental organisations, some of which they termed “briefcase”, saying they are out to fleece donors and not implement any changes.
The motion tabled by majority leader Stephen Edukon (Turkwel) on Thursday revealed that some NGOs are operating in the county but their activities are unknown by national and county governments authorities and they are not employing locals.
"We have over 30 NGOs in Turkana, including United Nations agencies supporting refugee operations in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, while others are in Lodwar and other major towns,” Mr Edukon said.
“We want to have a county consortium of NGOs that will investigate the activities of each NGO, with due respect to existing laws. This will help to avoid duplication and crowding of NGOs in some towns, villages or sub-counties.”
The majority leader said they were concerned following a public outcry about joblessness yet trained and qualified locals constitutionally deserve 70 percent of jobs created by NGOs.
"We are calling for respect for the locals living in Turkana. If there are vacancies in NGOs, job advertisements must be made public, through reliable public media platforms, for residents of the county and [people] from other parts to apply. Thirty percent of opportunities should be [set aside] for non-locals and expatriates," the MCA said.
The MCAs further agreed that the NGOs consortium should hold frequent meetings to apportion responsibilities and ensure a mandatory quarterly progress report on their progress is tabled in the assembly, for the sake of achieving programme objectives.
They said organisations that have closely consulted leaders are working smoothly but that the 'briefcase' ones skip critical county steering group meetings and ignore the County Integrated Development Plan yet their activities must align with it.
In 2021, former Deputy Governor Peter Lotethiro raised the alarm over lack of coordination among development partners and NGOs, revealing they had disregarded two far-flung sub-counties in water and sanitation programmes.
Mr Lotethiro said Kibish and Turkana East sub-counties had issues such as open defecation, which exposed the people to illness.
"Inclusion of the two sub-counties in partner-funded programmes would be the most strategic intervention in addressing the unmet water and sanitation needs in the areas," he said.
