The National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations [NGO Bureau] has cancelled the operating license of Bryan White Foundation, an organization belonging to Kampala socialite Bryan Kirumira.
This was revealed by Patrick Onen Ezaga, the senior communication officer of the NGO Bureau at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala today.
One said, the decision was taken after receiving a letter from the vice -chairperson of parliament’s Human Rights Committee complaining about Bryan White’s behavior. This prompted the bureau to investigate the organization which was registered in January 2019.
Bryan White had been accused by several girls of sexual harassment after he promised to help them. Some of the girls said they had spent months at Bryan White’s home being used as sex slaves.
The investigations found that whereas Bryan White Foundation was supposed to be a company limited by guarantee with a board of directors and other members who would meet annually for a general meeting, Bryan White was solely running the organization. Even the functions that it was licensed to perform like looking after orphans, widows and supporting youths to be self-reliant were never undertaken.
The organization also has no known physical address as the address it had indicated in its registration documents was only found to have a banner hanging in front of an unfinished building. The Foundation also didn’t have any significant transaction in the bank account save for a one-off case where Bryan White deposited and later withdrew 10 million Shillings.
It was after the discovery that the NGO Bureau tasked Kirumira to file an explanation about the operations of his organization. However, the July 22 letter went unanswered hence prompting them to revoke the permit of Bryan White Foundation and also cancel its certificate of registration.
The NGO board has also indefinitely suspended the operation of another International NGO known as GiveDirectly, for failure to explain the source of its funding.
Investigation revealed that the organization which is working in three districts of Kampala, Kiryandongo and Bukedea was giving people money, which is likely to make people lazy, promote idleness, domestic violence, dependency syndrome and tension within neighbouring villages.
