Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations Kenneth Wain has forcefully complained about blanket exemptions granted by ministers from the provisions of the law on voluntary organisations.
"Most were blanket exemptions related to some ministerial fund or other, none was explained or justified in the letter of exemption. This way of doing things evidently goes against the intention for any law that provides for ministerial exemption, namely that the tool should be used sparingly and responsibly in exceptional and justified cases on a case by case basis, and that the reason for the exemption should be communicated to the commission, otherwise ministerial discretion is abused and the mechanism is made a farce," Prof Wain said.
In his report, Prof Wain notes that the law, including the requirement for returns to be submitted to the commissioner, applies only to those organisations which opt to enrol in the Register of Voluntary Organisations.
This, he said, left a large but undetermined number of non-enrolled organisations completely unregulated and therefore not legally accountable.
"There is no legal assurance that the non-enrolled part of the voluntary sector is operating honestly and within the financial laws of the country, even when organisations are in receipt of public funds. The situation creates a deficit of public accountability which damages the sector as a whole," he warned.
Prof Wain also noted that there was still an impasse with the Church on its enrolment of its organisations in the Register of Voluntary Organisations.
"It must be put on record that the demand of the (church) Authorities is for nothing less than complete exemption for their organisation from the requirements of the Voluntary Organisations Act, including from the investigative powers of the Commissioner which the VOA extends to non-enrolled organisations, while enjoying the same access to public funds and other government benefits and privileges which the law presently reserves for enrolled voluntary organisations."
His position, Prof Wain said, was that all voluntary organisations that qualified should be treated equally and subject to the provisions of the law.