By Alex Banda Kachingwe

Blantyre, July 18, Mana: NGO Regulatory Authority (NGORA), which was established to register and regulate operation of non-state organizations on Wednesday, oriented media practitioners in Blantyre to make understand and appreciate the authority’s legal mandate and core functions.

NGORA invited media practitioners from public and private media houses such as Malawi News Agency, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, Times, Capital FM, Mzati Radio, Yoneco FM Angaliba Radio and TV.

Speaking during the orientation meeting, NGORA, Director of Compliance Services, Patrick Mwale said NGORA was established by the Act of Parliament in 2001, to regulate operations of non-governmental organizations in Malawi.

“Ngora is a statutory body which registers organizations or institutions that want to become non-governmental organizations in the country. We regulate and make follow ups on how these registered NGOs utilize the funds and perform their activities to ensure sanity and fully compliance to the standards of NGORA and NGO Act,” he said, adding that one of the requirement of NGOs is submission of annual reports to ensue accountability and transparency.

He said NGORA has so far registered 1,049 NGOs in the country that operate in various thematic areas.

Participants at the workshop said the orientation was relevant as it was informative on NGORA’s operation and legal mandate.

“The orientation was worthy to understand the difference between NGORA and CONGOMA. The orientation was an eye opener and going forward we are now able to differentiate the two,” said one of the participants, Smart Sochera, a reporter from Yoneco FM.

During the presentation, participants learnt that NGORA is a regulator while CONGOMA is a coordinator.