Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has termed the latest purge on NGOs as a normal regulatory measure and not a “crackdown”.
Kuria said Kenya has about 20, 000 NGOs and latest action taken by the NGO Coordination Board on KHRC and AfriCOG is normal from the regulator.
“I do not think in my honest opinion that you can call it a crackdown. I would characterize it as normal policing, normal regulatory action and normal administrative action,” he said on Thursday on Citizen TV.
He defended government against claims that it is using the Mohamed Fazul Board to frustrate NGOs perceived to be leaning to the opposition.
Kuria maintained that it is high time NGOs choose either to remain in the civil society circles or join mainstream politics.
He said though civil society has a right to political opinion; they should not be “political actors”.
“They can have a political opinion. The issue is can they be political actors taking a partisan role in this?”
“There’s a difference between holding a political opinion and being a political actor,” he stated.
He accused some NGOs of dishonesty.
“Are we willing to have the honesty to say I am a political actor or I am a civil society? You cannot wear the hat of a political actor when it suits you and the hat of civil society when it suits you; it’s actually dishonest.”
Fazul on Monday de-registered KHRC. He said the NGO has misappropriated sh1.2 billion besides operating four illegal bank accounts.
KHRC was also accused of employing expatriates without work permits.
On Tuesday Fazul wrote to the DCI to arrest AfriCOG directors and also directed Central Bank of Kenya to free its accounts.
But Acting Interior CS Fred Matiang’i suspended the purge on NGO by the Board for 90 days pending review of their compliance status.