BY SAM ALFAN.
NASA principal and wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation has moved to court to challenge the decision by NGO Board.
He is seeking orders to unfreeze its bank accounts and the decision by the board suspended.
The Foundation says that the order issued on May 2nd this year was not backed up by any court orders and is therefore unlawful.
“NGO Board directive to freeze Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation is unlawful, “states the foundation.
The foundation claim that the order has adversely affected the foundations day to day operations capability adding that if the said orders are not granted then the Foundation will suffer irreparable harm and injury.
Lawyer Albert Simiyu Murambi says the foundation is registered as a foundation with operations throughout the republic of Kenya with the charitable intention of alleviating poverty and advancement of education says.
In a certificate of urgency the foundation says that it was registered in the year 2005 and has carried on its charitable and humanitarian assistance across the country and has consistently filed its annual returns and has never defaulted in any way.
The foundation says that the allegations by the NGO BOARD that purported to freeze the bank accounts on grounds that it has not accounted for shillings 196 million are untrue.
The court documents filed in court state that by dint of its letter dated May 2nd 2017 the board purported to close the foundations account by directing Central Bank of Kenya to preserve all accounts until further notice.
According to the foundation the boards conduct is irrational as three weeks before the said decision was reached it had certified it as having been compliant with the law in all aspects.
The foundation argues that the decision is disproportionate to alleged transgression as thousands of individuals who benefit from its philanthropic activities are in limbo as its accounts remain in a state of limbo.
“The respondent’s decision is in breach of the applicants legitimate expectations founded on a letter dated April 10 2017 to the effect that the foundation is in compliant with the law, “states the foundation.
It further argues that the decision is malicious as it was not given an opportunity to be heard.
The NGO board through its director Fazul Mohammed wrote a letter alleging that the foundation had opened and was operating an illegal account with investment and mortgage bank along Ngong Avenue-Nairobi Branch.
Further the boards allege that the foundation was operating a secret and illegal foreign currency account which was holding all its foreign currency that the foundation audited accounts did not reveal the identity of its foreign donors.
The board has also accused Kalonzo Foundation for being audited by the same person since registration.
Affidavit filed by Kennedy Musyoka Kalonzo, Secretary to the Foundation states that the foundation is currently paying School fees for 23 students and it’s also undertaking developments projects.
The foundation is now seeking orders baring the NGO Board from deregistering it or interfering it with its operations in any way.
It futher wants the court to Prohibit the NGO Board from breaching abrogating and or in any way infringing on the right of the applicants officials and officers under the pretense of investigating the foundation.
In March this year, the board wrote to the Foundation demanding it discloses within 14 days the source of funds into the account and projects they were intended for.
The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Coordination Board suspended the operations of Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation with immediate effect over unaccounted 146 million Shillings donor funds.
In the letter dated May 2, the Board’s Executive Director Fazul Mahamed dissolved the entire Board of Directors of the Foundation and ordered the fund accounts frozen.
The Board further threatened legal action against the Foundation if it fails to comply within two weeks.
The Board is accusing the Foundation of receiving donations both in cash and in kind from foreign donor whose identities are not revealed in its Audited Accounts
