NAIROBI, Kenya — Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has established a multi-agency working group to coordinate the identification and risk-based monitoring of non-profit organisations considered vulnerable to terrorism financing.
The Multi-Agency Coordination Working Group on Non-Profit Organisations at Risk of Terrorism Financing was constituted through Gazette Notice No. 14153 dated September 2, 2026, and published in the Kenya Gazette on September 4.
The new team brings together government agencies responsible for non-profit regulation, registration, financial intelligence, counter-terrorism and public administration.
Its members include representatives from the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, Office of the Attorney-General, Public Benefit Organizations Regulatory Authority (PBORA), Business Registration Service, Registrar of Societies, Directorate of Social Development, National Counter-Terrorism Centre and Financial Reporting Centre.
The Ministry of Interior and National Administration will provide the chairperson, while PBORA will serve as the secretariat.
The Gazette notice states that the working group will serve as a forum for consultation and cooperation on matters concerning non-profit organisations considered to be at risk of terrorism financing.
What the team will do
The working group will coordinate the identification of charitable organisations considered to face terrorism-financing risks and oversee a risk-based approach to monitoring organisations assessed to be at higher risk.
The framework does not provide for every non-profit organisation to be subjected to the same level of scrutiny.
Instead, the group will focus on organisations identified through risk assessment, reflecting the principle that regulatory measures should be proportionate to the level of risk.
The team will also coordinate efforts to sensitise organisations considered to be at risk of terrorism financing and support the implementation of agreed measures within the non-profit sector.
Another responsibility will be to harmonise the approaches used by different government agencies when dealing with terrorism-financing risks involving non-profit organisations.
The group will also provide a platform for agencies to raise concerns, exchange information and share intelligence relating to terrorism financing within the sector.
It will be able to review reports, policies, legislation and other documents relevant to its mandate and may undertake or commission studies and research where necessary.
The working group may also co-opt relevant individuals or institutions to assist it in carrying out its functions.
It will develop its own rules of procedure and work plans and is required to submit an annual report of its activities to the Interior Cabinet Secretary.
Not a blanket crackdown on charities
The creation of the working group does not, by itself, mean that all non-profit organisations will be subjected to heightened monitoring or that organisations identified as being at risk will automatically face criminal sanctions.
The Gazette notice focuses on coordination, consultation, risk-based monitoring, sensitisation, information sharing, research and implementation of agreed measures.
It does not expressly confer on the working group powers to deregister organisations, freeze their bank accounts, prosecute them or impose criminal penalties.
Those distinctions are important because Kenya’s current legal framework places specific regulatory responsibilities over public benefit organisations with PBORA.
Under the amended Public Benefit Organizations Act, PBORA is mandated to identify organisations that may be at risk of terrorism-financing abuse, assess the risks they face and develop focused, proportionate and risk-based measures to address those risks. The law also requires such measures not to undermine the legitimate operations of public benefit organisations.
PBORA’s own mandate similarly includes oversight and monitoring of PBOs at risk of terrorism-financing abuse.
Move comes as Kenya remains on FATF grey list
The new coordination mechanism comes as Kenya continues implementing reforms required under its action plan with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Kenya remains under FATF’s increased monitoring, commonly referred to as the grey list. In its June 19, 2026 update, FATF said Kenya had made progress in strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework but still needed to revise its framework for regulating and overseeing non-profit organisations.
FATF specifically called for Kenya to ensure that measures addressing terrorism-financing risks in the non-profit sector are risk-based and do not disrupt or discourage legitimate non-profit activity.
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The FATF position is significant because non-profit organisations can be vulnerable to abuse for terrorism financing, but measures taken against those risks are expected to be proportionate and targeted rather than applied indiscriminately.
Kenya’s latest move therefore seeks to bring several agencies involved in regulating and monitoring the sector into a coordinated framework.
New PBO regulatory framework
The working group also comes as Kenya implements a strengthened regulatory framework for public benefit organisations.
The Public Benefit Organizations Regulations, 2026 were published in the Kenya Gazette in March, providing a framework for the management and oversight of PBOs and the transition of organisations previously registered under the repealed NGOs Coordination Act.
PBORA has since been overseeing the transition of organisations into the PBO framework and maintaining an updated register of organisations operating under the new system.
The broader reforms are intended to strengthen transparency, accountability and oversight within Kenya’s charitable sector while maintaining space for legitimate public-benefit activities.
The new multi-agency working group adds a further layer of coordination by bringing together institutions involved in registration, regulation, financial intelligence and counter-terrorism.
No specific non-profit organisation has been named in the Gazette notice as being at high risk.
Instead, the working group has been tasked with coordinating the process through which organisations undertaking charitable activities are identified as facing terrorism-financing risks and, where necessary, subjected to risk-based monitoring.
The development marks another step in Kenya’s efforts to strengthen its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework while responding to international concerns over the potential abuse of the non-profit sector.
