NGOs warned against undermining national security

Deputy Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Faustine Ndugulile. Photo |File

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Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children deputy minister Faustine Ndugulile has warned non-governmental organisations against engaging in activities that could threaten national security, saying the government would not hesitate to take legal action against them, including deregistration.

Dodoma. The government has issued a stern warning against non-governmental organisations (NGOs) against engaging in activities that could jeopardise national security including money laundering and terrorism.

The warning was issued by the deputy minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Faustine Ndugulile, at the Annual General Meeting of the Council of NGOs in Dodoma on Thursday, March 28.

Dr Ndugulile said there were reports of some NGOs being used to conduct fraud, hence violating the very objectives for which they were established, while some activities threatened national security.

He warned that any organization that fails to observe and undertake its activities as per the laws of the land will have their registrations revoked.

“We’re not ready to see that some organisations break the laws of the country. We’ll take appropriate legal measures against them,” said Dr Ndugulile.

The deputy minister also challenged NGOs to expand their areas of coverage to avoid concentrating their efforts only in small areas.

“There are many questions coming to mind seeing that certain non-governmental organisations only concentrate in one physical area instead of expanding their activities to other parts of the country as well. There are areas also that need to be given priority, but you’ll find no organization operating there,” he observed.

He called on NGOs registered in Tanzania to align their priorities against those of the government and stop the tendency of forcing the government to accept each and everything they advocate.

“But, the government has already finalized the database for all NGOs in the country, and an electronic system has been established to ensure that all organisations are linked to it and every information sent out gets to the organisations within acceptable time,” he said.