Generally, both International and National Non-Governmental Organizations are not

highly regulated by the host authority. Nevertheless, for South Sudan, this is not the

case. On February 2, 2016, the South Sudan National Legislative Assembly passed the

Non-Governmental Organizations Bill, alongside the Relief and Rehabilitation

Commission (RRC) bill. Both bills became statutory laws immediately after a

presidential assent.

The prime purpose of the NGO Act is to regulate and monitor NGO activities in South

Sudan. Since of the enactment, the legislation met a lot of resistance from the

opponents of the NGO Act; and they maintain that it would have devastating effects

on the civil population in the war-torn nation, and they thought it was wise for them to

be consulted, in the first place.

Anyhow, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan argument that the NGOs

have been operating without sufficient legal guidance and passing of the NGO Act

2016 would facilitate an effective humanitarian operation in the country. It is also

worth mentioning that the neighboring countries including Kenya and Rwanda passed

similar legislations that regulated the NGO operations but pose no threat on operation

of NGOs in those countries. In the discussion, the paper would begin with analysis of

the provisions complained by the opponents of the NGO Act, followed by the

government justification of the Act on the NGO operation in the country.

The main touchy provisions of the NGO Act, 2016 are listed as follows:

Firstly, the Opponents of the NGO, complained of section 18 (2)(c), which demands

any NGO operating in South Sudan to employ at least 80% of South Sudanese

nationals in all managerial, middle and junior levels. The alleged effect of this

provision according to some humanitarian workers is that many South Sudan does not

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have human resources to meet the 80 % requirement stated by the provision. This

argument is not true, there are many South Sudanese nationals who have overseas and

national qualification to fill the 80% requirement who have experience since some of

them started working with NGO in the old Sudan and others since 2005.one would

ask, how long does to take to build capacity and gain needed experience? Thus, their

argument is not valid within that context.

Secondly, the opponents of the NGO Act also complained of Section 9(b)(XI), which

requires the NGOs operating in South Sudan to sign agreement with government. This

is another area of contention but both national and transnational NGOs do not have

the substantial claim on why they view this problematic on their humanitarian

operation in the country. NGOs complain that the bill will pose negative ramifications

on their operation in South Sudan. On the contrary, the Government does not buy this

idea, and hence, the basis for the row.

Thirdly, section 9, b (xiv) requires the opening of a bank account in South Sudan by

an NGO in order for it to operate. Under this section, the NGOs have no respect for

the Central Bank of South Sudan way of dealing with deposits, which they see can

interfere with their operations since much of their work need quick and adequate

response for purpose of saving lives and human suffering. Furthermore, public

financial sector is fragile hence making it prone to corruption and misappropriation.

Some analyst concurred with the concerns of NGOs on this section as Central Bank

encroach on private account as the case now with commercial bank deposits which

are almost on verge of collapsing thus generating real fears for the NGOs.

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In summary, given the arguments discussed earlier, there is no practical and negative

ramifications pose on humanitarian operations by these NGOs Acts as asserted.

Comparable legislations in Rwanda and Kenya have been studied and no fears

discovered; hence, the NGOS in South Sudan are panicking because they have been

operating in the country since 2005 without legal framework for regulating their

activities. Issues to do with operating account in South Sudan can be resolved with

financial reform in the Central Bank. In short, the NGOs Act is there to facilitate

smooth running and coordination of NGOs affairs and Humanitarian Operations.

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REFERENCES

1. South Sudan NGOs Act, 2016.

2. Relief And Rehabilitation Commission Act, 2016
3. Zacharia Diing Akol (2016), The Enactment of NGO Act and Its Implications

on Humanitarian Operations. Sudd Institute: www.sudinstitute.org

4. Radio Tamazuj, February 6, 2016 Publication at

https://radiotamazuj.org/en/eu-peace-deal-requires-review-ngo-bill
5. Procedures for Registration of International Non-governmental

Organizations/INGOs in Rwanda at https://www.migration.gov.rw/index.php?

rd=209
6. Non-governmental Organizations Coordination Act, Revised Edition 2012

(1990), www.kenyalaw.org
7. Sudan Tribune, February11, 2016 Publication at

https://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article57988

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