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Our institutional culture within NGOs is no better than ZANU PF, says Brain Kagoro, Crisis Coalition Founding Coordinator
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
September 24, 2012

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Founding Coordinator and Former Chairperson, Brian Kagoro, has challenged Civic Society to be united in order to be stronger, and admonished the negative culture of personalising institutions, as well as "the sickening" practice of anonymous emails, which he claimed destroy rather than build.

Speaking at a Partners Indaba for OSISA, which took place in Harare on the 21st of September 2012, Kagoro presented a frank broadside to Civil Society Organisations saying "you can have more resources if you combine, than compete".

Chiding civil society for huge egos that have taken over, Kagoro said "Our institutional culture within NGOs is no better than ZANU PF. We suffer from accountability and transparency challenges. We did not model adequately institutions that de-personalise instititutions, reluctance to hand over power, brutal containment of any criticism, personalised institutions and big monism. In this regard, the bigger challenge we face is from ourselves rather than the autocratic system we are fighting"

Brian Kagoro's broad side was issued during his presentation on the topic, Challenges of programming in transitional states - from confrontation to the policy table. Kagoro challenged civil society organisations in Zimbabwe to strive to be relevant to the needs of the citizens that they intend to serve. Whilst acknowledging that civil society is multi-sectoral and complex, Kagoro stated that there was a need for it to be national so as to confront a national elitist oppressive system. Kagoro challenged civil society in Zimbabwe to start engaging beyond the rhetoric and issues of human rights and democracy, and start speaking to issues to do with political economy like resource allocation, redistribution and employment.

He also implored civil society to adopt a programming model that seeks to empower the citizens of the country to make demands to the political elite. The theme of constitutionalism was also raised, where Kagoro noted that a constitution is not the panacea to Zimbabwe's problems, giving an example of South Africa which has one of the best constitutions in the world but is facing acute problems related to entrenched elite, which has ensconced itself within the economic, social and political sectors.

The meeting was attended by a cross section of leaders from across Zimbabwe's civil society spectrum.

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