Africa-Press – Eswatini. In most democracies, ordinary citizens are allowed to start independent entities that serve the needs of the community or nation they live in which complement, supplement, or even challenge the work of the government. Such organisations are often called nongovernmental organisations, or NGOs, because they are not an extension of the government’s offices.
NGOs allow citizens to improve their society by advocating for educating, and mobilising attention around major public issues and monitoring the conduct of government and private enterprise. They enable citizens from different backgrounds to learn to work together and build the skills, relationships, and trust necessary for good government.
They serve a great variety of citizen interests. They may act as social service providers, advocates for the environment or for living standards, work standards, or as the catalysts for democratic change, as is the case in the Kingdom of Eswatini. NGOs often represent the interests of those citizens, who might otherwise be left out of national policy debates. These may include women, youth, the elderly and people who hold political opinions that are different from the mainstream.
They open the public discourse to people of all economic and social classes and to women and other minorities. NGOs may be politically unaffiliated, or they may be based on partisan ideals and seek to advance a particular cause or set of causes in the public interest. In either model, the key point is that NGOs should operate under minimal political control of the government. The mooted NGO Bill, which was introduced by government last year, however, has a clause that requires that directors declare that they will not engage in partisan politics.
NGOs are necessary because they help the public keep an eye on whether politicians are misusing public money or breaking the law. They help the public get organised and make their opinions known to our representatives, for example through petitions or peaceful protests. And they take governments to court when they try to take away our rights or steal our taxes.
Protect
Because NGOs are so important to democracy, governments all over the world created international rules to protect them. Treaties signed at international level at the United Nations and in Africa, give everyone the right to create organisations, protest peacefully and express their opinions. NGOs help democracy work by making it easier for people to get information about how their country is being run, helping the public to communicate with politicians, and making sure that government do not abuse their powers.
They help to educate the public about what governments are doing and how it can affect them. By informing the public about how politicians and companies are using their power and influence, NGOs help the people form opinions and take decisions based on all the relevant information. Moreover, they help the public talk to governments. The public is only able to choose its representatives once, every five years.
Once in power, politicians take hundreds of decisions about laws, taxes and policies. NGOs give the people a way of telling our political representatives what we think of their choices. Although each individual ideally has to be able to talk to his/her political representative, expressing our views through an NGO can be more effective, because when many people speak with one voice, it is easier to be heard.
It is also difficult to be targeted and persecuted for dissenting views. When NGOs work to make sure that governments keep to their legal obligations, they are helping to safeguard democracy and the public interest. This is because when governments put rules into their constitution or into a treaty, the process usually takes many years. Governments do this when they have agreed that these rules carry great importance because they serve the general public good. Unfortunately, governments do break the law.
When this happens, NGOs can take the government to court, as was the case with the free education matter. This way, NGOs make sure that governments do not misuse their powers and break constitutional or internationally agreed rules, that have already been democratically agreed to. Such cases are often sensitive and very demanding. Governments bring the best legal minds to represent them and they tend to be long drawn and expensive. Private litigants using their own money, often do not stand a chance against governments.
This is where NGOs come in handy, with resources to afford services of experienced counsel, often advocates from outside the country. When these matters are won, the judgments benefit a huge sector of society, who would have otherwise not have been able to take the matter up and assert their rights. Without any doubt, NGOs can be a very powerful force for democracy. No democracy can survive without the active involvement of a vibrant NGO sector.
Source: times
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
