ARUSHA, Tanzania, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania has suspended the registration of new non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as it embarks on verification of the existing ones, a senior official said on Monday.
Sihaba Nkinga, Tanzania's Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children unveiled the move when speaking at the event to launch the certification of NGOs, which officially began on Monday and is scheduled to end on September 4 this year.
The official said NGOs that fail to comply, do not cooperate in the exercise will be de-registered.
"As we carry out verification at zonal levels, we will also conduct an evaluation of the verification and give the final analysis of the whole exercise," she said.
She said the government has suspended the registration of new NGOs in order for experts to go through information from various groups that will help form the way forward.
The PS noted that the ban on new registrations remains from August 21 to November 30, this year, urging the organizations to cooperate fully in the exercise for the betterment of the civil society organizations.
The NGOs are required to submit a letter from the regional, district or municipal development officer confirming the existence of the organization and a copy of the NGO's constitution, certified by the registrar of NGOs.
She said according to registration of NGOs under the NGOs Act number 24 of 2002, started in 2005 and up to July 2017, there were 8,316 such institutions registered at different levels in the country.
Their duties, she said, cut across different issues and groups of people, like in health, education, environment, gender, agriculture, good governance and human rights.
Some focus on matters affecting special groups of people like the elderly, people with disabilities and children. She added that several NGOs in the country have performed their duties through mobilization of people and the government acknowledges their contributions.
Nkinga noted that the verification process is to identify the NGOs, their number and what they do in the society in the effort to create a conducive environment for them to operate freely.
She explained that to ease the verification process, the NGOs will submit the required information at zonal offices rather than traveling all the way to Dodoma, the East African nation's capital.
