By Issah Mohammed
Accra, July 7, GNA – Mr Dela Ashiabor, Director, Non-Profit Organisation Secretariat (NPOS), says his outfit is willing to renew license of underperforming Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) for free.
He, however, said the NPO would have to establish beyond doubt that those Organisations were financially handicapped.
Mr Ashiabor said the decision was to ease the burden of NPOs as done during the peak of COVID-19.
He observed that the current global economic turmoil, which had negatively impacted the country’s economic situation, had created a challenge for most NPOs, which were struggling to secure funding for their activities.
“When you come to us and you explain that last year you didn’t work, so you cannot pay for this, we can do it for free for you.
“We also want you to work, because without you, the government may not be able to provide those basic needs for the rural areas and villages as well as the vulnerable,” he said.
He was speaking at a validation workshop on a baseline study conducted by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG).
The study was on the Impact of Ghana’s Anti Money laundering (AML)/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) measures on NPOs.
He indicated that the NPOS, since its establishment in 2020 to take over the NPO registration role of the Department of Social Welfare, had not sanctioned any organisation for non-renewal of license or not having a board of directors due to prevailing situations in the country.
The Director of NPOS also said an assessment carried out by the Secretariat had identified faith based humanitarian organisations as vulnerable entities to AML and CFT due to non-availability of financial systems and the absence of Board of Directors.
He called on NPOs to cultivate domestic funding sources for their activities through philanthropy and not rely only on those outside for funding.
Sharing findings of the baseline study, Mr Douglas Quartey, Researcher and Development Worker, said that the implementation of the AML/CFT measures, which entailed stringent requirements before accessing transferred funds had led to increase in application for license renewals and registration of NPOs.
The study observed among things that there was a top-down approach in implementation of AML/CTF measures, lack of openness in the implementation of the measures and the NPO sector legal regime inadequate to meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The study has recommended intensive education on AML/CTF to NPOs, need for NPO to carry out due diligence on funding sources, establishment of NPO led peer review mechanism and the strengthening of internal governance and finance management structures to comply with AML/CTF measures.
GNA