Four Kenyan NGOs and a local bishop are among more than 100 civil society organisations that are urging participants of the aid effectiveness conference here to reject foreign aid with imposed conditions.

The groups are also demanding cancellation of debts saying it would be a major requisite to "aid effectiveness."

The civil society groups which concluded a two day parallel meeting ahead of the high level forum on aid effectiveness and management have called for community organisations, NGOs, and trade unions be involved in negotiations on foreign aid as well as in formulating the national development strategy.

EcoNews Africa, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kenya Debt Relief Network, Daughters of Mumbi Global Resource Centre and a Bishop Robert Mutemi Mutua were among the organisations lobbying against donor imposed conditions saying any aid with such issues should be rejected.

"Aid giving is not only exercised in the context of unequal power relations, it is also being used as an instrument of power...and conditionalities are the most blatant expression of this fact," the organisations said in a statement distributed to participants.

They argued that donor conditions had undermined the sovereignty of recipient countries and their people while violating the principle of democratic governance.

"There has been well documented evidence of harmful impacts of many policy conditionalities and the grossly unfair and disadvantageous nature of other types of conditions that have come with loans and aid."

The said "harmful" conditions, according to the groups which included those from Europe, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, Caribbean and Africa had destroyed agriculture in the countries involved, resulting in the current food crisis. This, they argue, has also weakened domestic economies and exposed the countries to the vagaries of the world market.

The only "acceptable and effective aid" participants from the more than 100 countries among them cabinet ministers and leaders of donor agencies were told, is that puts people at the centre while upholding sovereignity and does not come with conditionalities."

The NGOs described as appalling, the fact that the issue of debt cancellation had not featured on the Aid Effectiveness agenda. "Even the best intentions aid cannot be effective as long as many countries from Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, Asia, Pacific continue to lose huge amounts of much needed resources to debt servicing," they said.

The position of these NGO's was that loans constituted a big part of Aid flows adding to thee debt stocks claimed from many countries in those regions. They argue that while the interest rates are below market and come with some grace period, these still increase the flow of resources from these countries to 'add to their fiscal burdens.'