Members of the coalition Government were once effusive in their commitment to table whistleblower legislation, a crucial law that would ensure that those who dared to expose the wrongdoings of public officials were protected from retaliation by those in power.
In 2015, the Protected Disclosures (Whistleblower) Bill was published on the Official Gazette website. Last year, Attorney General Basil Williams had assured that the Bill would be laid in the House. But over a year later, the legislation is yet to be tabled in the National Assembly.
Opposition MP Bishop Juan Edghill
According to People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) parliamentarian Juan Edghill, the Government’s dragging of its feet to lay the Bill in the National Assembly is another example of its duplicity, having been vociferous in calling for its enactment while in Opposition.
“The fact that we don’t have the whistleblower legislation yet in the National Assembly is because the APNU/AFC made these declaratory statements and floated very laudable ideas,” Edghill said in a recent interview. “But they lack the political will and sincerity for its implementation.”
“If it is true that they would like to prevent and root out corruption wherever it raises its ugly head and to ensure good and clean governance, to protect (whistleblowers) from all forms of harassment and intimidation, then we need to get the whistleblower legislation in place,” Edghill said, nevertheless expressing doubt about the coalition’s commitment to enacting the legislation.
Nurse
It has been argued that had this legislation been in place, the recent occurrence in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) of action being taken against a particular whistle-blower – Nurse Sherilyn Marks – for revealing a People’s National Congress Councillor’s abuse of pain medication (which was reported in the press) would never have happened.
It had been reported that Marks lodged two complaints against the Councillor on account of her being granted frequent access to the painkillers at the Fort Wellington Hospital. Marks had reportedly copied her complaint to regional and central government health officials, but there was no action on the complaints.
Instead, Nurse Marks has since been repaid for coming forward, by being transferred. The nurse had been reported attesting to never having requested a transfer. Joseph has since resigned as a councillor.
“The APNU/AFC, when they were in Opposition, talked plenty about that. Now that they are in Government they don’t even have an Integrity Commission in place,” Edghill said. “They don’t declare their assets, income and liabilities. They don’t bring to Parliament for enactment into law the tools that would create a new landscape to prevent corruption.
“And when you have a situation like what happened in Region Five with Nurse Marks, (who) was forced to go in a particular direction because of the blatant abuse. And when she brought that to public notice, she became the one that is under scrutiny and pressure. She was transferred and then we heard that she breached a public service rule.”
The Protected Disclosures (Whistleblower) Bill 2015 is described as a bill “to assist in combating corruption and other wrongdoings, both in the Public and Private Sector, by encouraging and facilitating the making by employees of specified disclosures of improper conduct in good faith and the public interest.”
The Bill also sets out “to regulate the receiving, investigating or otherwise dealing with disclosures of improper conduct; to protect employees who make specified disclosures from being subjected to occupational detriment; and for related matters.”
According to Part Two, “a disclosure made by an employee to an employer qualifies for protection if the disclosure is made (a) to the employer, where no procedure for the making of disclosures is in operation; or (b) substantially in accordance with a procedure referred to in Section Eight for the making of disclosures, where such a procedure is in operation.”
The delay in enacting the Bill and the recent saga of the nurse earned Government some scathing criticism from Transparency Institute Guyana Inc, which in a recent statement questioned the Government’s commitment to enacting the crucial legislation.
