In September 2026, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior Security formally gazetted the Multi-agency Coordination Working Group on Non -Profit Organisations at Risk of Terrorism Financing. The group’s mandate, as outlined in the gazette notice, is to coordinate consultation, risk-based monitoring, sensitisation, information sharing, and implementation of measures concerning non-profit organisations at risk of terrorism financing. What this means is that the task force will identify organisations that they consider to be at a higher risk of terrorism financing and share the organisations’ financial and operational information with Public Benefit Organisations Regulatory Authority (PBORA), and report annually to the Cabinet Secretary. This move has been viewed as a compliance push by Kenya to get out of the grey list – in 2024, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Kenya on its grey list of jurisdictions requiring increased monitoring for money-laundering and terrorism-financing risks.
CSO networks in Kenya have not issued a formal, joint multi-sectoral press statement targeting the gazettement of the Multi-Agency Co-ordination Working Group on Non-Profit Organisations at Risk of Terrorism Financing. However, CSOs have actively responded through ongoing sector engagements and regional consultative forums regarding the proposed task force.
The proposed regulations by the Multi-agency Coordination Working Group on Non -Profit Organisations at Risk of Terrorism Financing present a context to watch, as these measures may strengthen accountability and potentially lift Kenya from the grey listing. However, if these measures/ regulations are implemented unequally or with minimal safeguards, they may disenable the operating environment for CSOs by restricting access to funding and increasing compliance burdens.