(Jamaica Gleaner) – In the wake of the mushrooming of thousands of organisations throughout the region soliciting money for emergency aid in Haiti, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding has called for an audit of all funds collected in Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states.

In the presence of Caricom chairman, Dominican Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, Golding said this should be done quickly in order to determine how much money has been collected so far, how much has been spent and how much is left.

His comments were made during a weekend news conference along with members of the Caricom mission to Haiti. Members of the team, which included former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson, visited Haiti on Saturday.

“I don’t think that there will be any difficulty getting all the entities that have raised money to come to the table and say, ‘Look, how can these funds be utilised to ensure in the most effective way for the Haitian people’,” he said,

Stressing that he was not suggesting any wrongdoing, the prime minister explained that conducting the audit would “bring all of us to the same table so that there can be an understanding” on the way forward.

“We are at a point now where instead of running in with a bucket of water, we need to be a little more structured and coordinated,” he said.

The glut of aid agencies and governments trying to deliver assistance to Haitians has sometimes had a counterproductive effect, with resources not being efficiently allocated, some commentators have argued.