There is no sure mechanism to check and monitor government funds that are given to temples, NGOs, churches, sports bodies and other charitable organisations.

These charitable trusts get a lot of funding all year round but there is no check and control mechanism.

We need some strict accounting of the funds given to these bodies.

A check and control mechanism will ensure that these trusts and organisations manage the funds and their charitable work in a competent, transparent and accountable manner.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers must come up with an all-encompassing law to ensure stricter control over trust and charitable bodies.

All the state and federal laws must be streamlined and the government must ensure that the charitable trusts promote accountability and transparency in the way they handle public money.

As it is now, funds are channelled to NGOs and temples, for example, but there is no accounting at all.

It is the government’s job to ensure that this state of affairs is changed for good.

The usage of public money must have strong accountability and transparency on the part of government to ensure that money is used for the intended purpose and not pilfered for personal use.

The yearly horrors in the Auditor-General’s Reports should be a shocking reminder to us all of the lack of accountability in managing public money.

C SIVARRAAJH is MIC Youth chief.