Govt. to introduce Whistle Blower legislation to fight corruption

Sep 20, 2013 News

Government will soon be looking to discuss at the level of Cabinet, the importance of the ‘Whistle Blower’ legislation with a view of aiding the fight against corruption. This disclosure was made by Presidential Advisor, Gail Teixeira, during a Post Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President yesterday.

Presidential Advisor, Gail Teixeira, address members of the media yesterday at Office of the President

In fact, she told media operatives that the proposed piece of legislation has been brought to the attention of the Attorney General’s Office, who is expected to assist the process.
A Whistle Blower Legislation, according to Teixeira, is intended to create a more enabling environment for people to make reports as it relates to instances of corruption whereby persons are protected from harassment or other associated dangers.
This proposed legislation is in fact one of the areas that has been examined by the Organisation of American States (OAS) with the support of a number of countries. The OAS has in place a MESICIC, which is its mechanism for the implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. Guyana signed onto the Convention in 2001, a move which was subsequently ratified, according to Teixiera.
A total of 31 countries have signed on to the Convention and according to the Presidential Advisor “there was a request by the countries of the OAS for assistance from the OAS Technical and Legal Departments to help us in crafting the draft guidelines for Whistle Blower legislation.”
The legislation, according to her, was completed this year after a number of workshops with lawyers, draftsmen and countries, who together worked towards the draft guideline on the areas that would cover the legislation.
“So we are taking those draft guidelines and converting them into a piece of legislation for Guyana to examine, so that will be an important component that has to be brought forward,” said Teixeira.
And the other mechanisms that the Government is looking at to fight corruption are the Auditor General Office and the Public Accounts Committee, which according to Teixeira, are mechanisms that do not exist in all countries that have signed unto the OAS Convention. “Guyana has a number of architectural, constitutional, legislative as well as administrative measures in place ahead of a number of other countries,” Teixeira mentioned.
Her comments were forthcoming even as she responded to a question from this publication relating to moves by the Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. to mount a Billboard in the vicinity of the Demerara Harbour Bridge encouraging the support of the public to help fight corruption.
According to Teixeira, “I personally have no problem with that…having a billboard is not sufficient but it is part of awareness and that can suffice.” However, she pointed out that the most important factor in this regard are the actual mechanisms to help fight corruption whereby investigations can be undertaken and possible charges can even be made.