Maka Angola and Rafael Marques should have nothing to hide from Angola’s NGO ref

It came as little surprise this week to see anti-government website Maka Angola launch a vitriolic attack of the change of laws regarding non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Angola.

According to the website, which is run by investigative journalist and staunch anti-government activist Rafael Marques de Morais, many of the changes involve the administration and registration of NGOs in the oil-rich country.

The website states that the reforms in question oblige(s) NGOs to register with the central government, a process that can be delayed indefinitely if something is deemed wrong with the documents. The creation of an NGO thus comes to depend, ultimately, on the government’s administrative will.

Other criticisms include NGOs now having to register with the foreign office and the Institute for the Promotion and Coordination of Aid to the Communities.
Finally, rules now prevent NGOs ‘from developing any activity contrary to the principles upheld by the bodies of national sovereignty.’

Are these reforms truly that shocking? It seems absurd to claim that it is unreasonable to force an NGO that will be operating in a certain country to register first with that nation’s government.

It is surely the government’s duty to ensure the safe and law-abiding operation of that NGO in their own territory, so making them register with not one but two governmental bodies should be seen as a positive rather than a negative as it introduces further checks and balances on their work.

Finally, forcing ‘an NGO from developing any activity contrary to the principles upheld by the bodies of national sovereignty’ should also been seen as a good thing: it provides added security for the nation and population in the face of an NGO operating in a way which could either be unlawful or not in the best interests of Angolan people.

Realistically, Maka Angola’s criticism of these reforms is caused largely by their intense dislike of president José Eduardo dos Santos, who they criticise at every opportunity.

De Morais recently received six-month jail term, suspended for two years, for defaming army generals in a book, so his contribution to the debate can hardly be seen as fair or impartial.

Furthermore, NGOs are often bodies which can meddle and cause political disruption in countries, as recently seen in Russia, hence president Vladimir Putin’s tightening of laws regarding their operation in Russia.

It is not surprise that Maka Angola labels dos Santos’ reforms ‘Putinesque’.
But even in the USA, always prone to lecture African countries on human rights, the non-profit whistleblowing Wikileaks was brutally shut down and saw its funding blocked by US government.

All things considered, any law-abiding NGOs have nothing to fear from these reforms, so frankly Maka Angola, which is heavily sponsored by the US, has nothing to be afraid of. That is, of course, assuming their motives are innocent and genuine.