LORDS OF THE NGOS

Story extract from The Leader, issue No. 0072 Dec.15-Dec21, 2006. Reach them at: theleader@royalmedia.co.ke since they dont have a website.

So long, farewell, I want to say goodbye(sound of music)……cause I ‘m leaving, on a jet plane, I don’t know when I’ll be back again, oh babe how I hate to go(John Denver)………
Welcome to the world of the blue eyed girls and boys of the Kenya NGOs. They control a Shs 100 billion eye-popping welfare(farewell) industry, which would make our cash hungry MPs green with envy. Their’s are sleek hands, that grip the industry tighter than barnacles. They are less than ten. They drive the latest cars and live in plush upmarket estates in Nairobi. They spend most of their time in the air, crisscrossing the globe from one Western capital to the other. In the little time when they are in the country, they operate secretly, holding night meetings in exclusive hotels where they cut deals with each other. Welcome once again to the world of the cartel that determines who receives the Shs.100 billion plus from donors in the country. Below are our subject and their flagships.

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Kenyans here we come:
Davinder Lamba:
Co-convener NCEC
Mazingira Institute(lobby with consultancy status with UNEP)


Pheroze Nowrogee:
Co-convener NCEC
Daughter Binaifer Director Kenya Initiative at the Open Society International(OSI)


Prof Edward Akong’o Oyugi:
Social Development Network(SODNET)
Kenya Social Forum
Convenor of the Commission on Content and Methodology –World Social Forum

Betty Murungi:
Director Urgent Action Fund-Africa
Consultant Rights and Democracy of Canada
Director Kenya Human Rights Commission
Board member Kituo Cha Katiba
Board member Public Law Institute
Board member Women Initiative for Gender Justice
Board member Coalition for Women’s Human Rights in Conflict Situations
Dr Willy Mutunga:
East African Human Rights Institute
Kituo Cha Katiba(Kampala)
Director Rights and Democracy of Canada
Works for FORD Foundation
Board Member KHRC
4Cs
Prof. Makau Mutua:
Kenya Human Rights Commission in the US.
Chairman- Kenya Human Rights Commission
Board Member NCEC
Transparency International, Kenya
Director Human Rights Center, US
Director Center for Transitional Justice
Sits on the Boards of dozens International NGOs
Maina Kiai:
Chairman Kenya National Commission on Human Rights



Oduor Ong’wen:
Econews
Social Development Network
African Forum and Network for Debt and Development (AFRODAD)
Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute(SEATINI)
Third World Network(TWN)
Human Rights Watch Africa
Kenya Social Forum
Kenya Debt Relief Network(KENDREN)
Resource Mobilisation Coordinator–World Social Forum

Joyce Umbima:
Most powerful woman of NGO world in Kenya
Actionaid kitty on democracy
20 billion kitty to promote women agenda in politics by EU, USAID, CIDA, SIDA and UNIFEM
Executive Director of Kenya Alliance for the Advancement of Children Rights before joining Actionaid

Njeri Kabeberi-Kanene:
Executive Director Centre for Multiparty Democracy(CMD)
Board Member Kenya Human Rights Commission

Has any of them ever touched your lives ? Do you know anybody whose life they have touched ? If the answer is yes, and since it is Christmas time “go tell it to the mountains, over the hills and everywhere, that Jesus Christ is born”.