Norah Owaraga

Research Findings: NGOs and accountability issues

There are over 11 thousand Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Uganda (Mwesigwa 2015) and those NGOs often operate within a binary paradigm in which they perceive themselves as the voice of Uganda’s civil societies, particularly of those sections of the population that they categorise as marginalised and/or oppressed. Thus, NGO descriptions of those for whom they…

Research Findings: Governments do not trust NGOs

A story on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) recently caught my attention and set off my reflective mind. The story was titled: “How the NGO crackdown has spread to some democratic nations” (The Guardian Weekly 2015). The ‘democratic’ nations that were mentioned in the story were Israel, Ecuador and Hungary. According to the story, in Israel “NGOs…

Iteso afflicted with Pull Him/Her Syndrome

We, Iteso, seem to have internalized an inferiority complex which we willed through pull him or her down syndrome (PHD) against each other. Alinga Farms’ Atorot – dried calyces of Hibicus Sabdariffa Fruit Take for example, on 13th September 2015, my brother, who is one of the best service providers in Uganda’s tourism sector, shared…

Government’s excuse for pushing for enactment of a new draconian NGO law

Uganda’s move to pass a new law regulating the tens of thousands of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Uganda has generated very interesting and at times polarizing debate among NGOs. Government is justifying its need for stricter regulation of NGOs on grounds that NGOs serve interests of ‘outsiders’. Sometimes colluding with ‘outsiders’ in order to undermine…