TRANSPARENCY International Zambia (TIZ) is not opposed to the registration of non-governmental organisations (NGO) but provision in the bill that seeks to coordinate and regulate civil society organisations.

In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, TIZ president Reuben Lifuka said NGOs countrywide recognised the need for formal registration and had as such been registered under the Company Act as well as the Societies Act.

Mr Lifuka said most NGOs adhered to strict rules of accountability and transparency and this could be evidenced through the submission of information on their activities and how funds were applied.

Mr Lifuka said as far as he was concerned, most of the NGOs had audited books of accounts and strictly followed the laws of the land.

"The NGOs and TIZ in particular, have no problems with the call for accountability - it is something we are already doing and we do not need the NGO Act to make us accountable as suggested in some quarters," Mr Lifuka said.