Kenya Human Rights Commission Chairman Prof Makau Mutua has dismissed the move by NGO Coordination Board to deregister the equal rights lobby. The NGO regulator accuses the rights commission of misusing Sh1.2 billion.
On Monday, Fazul Mahamed, the NGO Coordination Board Executive Director wrote to Prof Mutua informing him that KHRC had flouted the law by evading tax to the tune of Sh100 million from October last year, misused billions of shillings and had hired foreigners without proper work permits.
Fazul also asked the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to freeze all bank accounts operated by KHRC. But in a response on Twitter, Prof Mutua said the NGO board has no authority to delist KHRC. “Fazul has no legal authority to deregister the KHRC. High Court last year rejected these false charges and ordered him to cease and desist,” Makau tweeted. In the letter to the commission, Fazul accused it of operating four illegal bank accounts at the NIC Bank and Commercial Bank of Africa.
In a press statement, KHRC condemned the de-registration as an act of intimidation rather than enforcement of the law. KHRC revived the issue of Fazul’s academic qualifications and questionable conduct as the NGOs Board Executive Director.
Fazul has been in court trying to block the implementation of a report by the Ombudsman that he used a forged certificate to get a job at the the NGO Board. In May, High Court Judge George Odunga declined to issue temporary orders, saying that it would be a violation of rules of natural justice.
KHRC was registered in Kenya as an NGO in 1994 and has been on the frontline of fighting for the enhancement of human rights. Members of the KHRC board are Maina Kiai, Godwin Murunga, Muthoni Wanyeki, Devinder Lamba and Father Gabriel Dolan.
In another move, Fazul has written to the Director of Criminal Investigations, Ndegwa Muhoro, seeking to stop the operations of another non-state organisation until it is registered. According to the NGO Board executive director, Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) has been operating illegallybecause it is not registered.
AfriCOG is headed by an Executive Director accountable to a five-member Board of Directors, according to africog.org. The secretariat consists of staff organised functionally across two main function areas. The first area is programmes. This branch consists of staff dedicated to developing, implementing and monitoring AfriCOG’s programme activities built around the core functions of: research, advocacy and partnerships; and dissemination and linkages.
Members of AfriCOG’s board are Maina Kiai, Gladwell Otieno, John Githongo, Stella Chege, Donald Deya and Funi Olonlsakin. Just before the August 8 polls, AfriCOG had asked the courts to compel the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to open the voters’ register for public scrutiny.