EVER since the misappropriation of funds from the Mawkhar Church became public in 2019, the group of believers managing the accounts has made all kinds of attempts to cover their tracks. If audit reports find that funds have been siphoned off and those guarding the church funds cannot explain the shortfall, the Church Committee has the primary duty to question why this happened and who is involved in the crime. The auditors found that between 2013 and 2019, a cumulative amount of Rs 4.65 crore intended for bank deposit never reached there. The church’s chowkidar, tasked with depositing all collections at the bank was blamed for this misappropriation. However, the question arises: how did he manage this for several years without the scam being detected? Who did he collude with and why was this discrepancy between collection and deposit not caught the attention of the Finance Committee of the Church unless those members were themselves involved in the loot.
In the midst of this imbroglio the Church leadership instead of converging on the single point of recovering the defrauded amount and resolving this embarrassing conundrum was instead divided on the issue. The section that believes in transparency in church matters saw no harm in exposing what is essentially a scam. Others who cared for the reputation of the church preferred silence – thereby believing that the problem would resolve itself. But a scam whether in a religious or secular institution has to be investigated and, if proven, exposed and the guilty prosecuted — regardless of whoever is involved. The church collects tithes and offerings every Sunday from its adherents with the intention of using the money to for charitable causes, for educational purposes; to take the church’s message to the last mile, improve its infrastructure such as graveyards, school buildings and also to build churches in distant villages. When such money is mis-utilised or misappropriated it suggests a deep moral degradation among its members. Those members should actually be held accountable instead of being protected just because they are respected members of the church. Needless to say this incident has eroded public trust and raised many unanswered questions.
The irony is that a certain minister in the present government of Meghalaya and others in the past too had tried to hush up this matter for fear of public opprobrium, instead of addressing the issue upfront and punishing the guilty no matter their station in the church hierarchy. Ironically the whistle blowers within the church have been harassed and hounded out. Today there is a faction that support the pastor because they believe he was discharging his duty with integrity. But others with different mindsets have used their political clout to get the Government involved in the mess. That the Government instead of distancing itself from church related matters has instead stepped in ostensibly to prevent the takeover of the church by one or other group, has over-stepped its brief.That the matter has spilt over to the public domain through the media is no happenstance. The media’s duty is to report on wrongdoings not just of the government but of every public institution and the church is one such institution. The media is under no obligation to protect the reputation of any individual or institution involved in wrongdoing.
