Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Politicians not serious about whistleblower protection
…law remains dormant four years after enactment
By Rehanna Ramsay
Kaieteur News – Having a law in place to protect the rights of ordinary citizens who expose acts of corruption and misconduct perpetrated by officials in high offices, means absolutely nothing, if the powers that be, refuse to do what is necessary to enforce it.
This is essentially the view of prominent Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes who was at the time addressing concerns over the status of Guyana’s Protected Disclosure Act commonly referred to as the Whistleblower law. The legislation which had been enacted some four years ago is still to be brought into effect but the desire to have a fully functioning piece of legislation appears to be the furthest thing from the minds of the Politicians.
Attorney at Law, Nigel Hughes.
Hughes noted that this is evident in the recent issues which unfolded following the explosive claims made by his client, Police Sergeant Dion Bascom who implicated prominent businessman, Azruddin Mohamed and top members of the Guyana Police Force in a plot to cover up the murder of Ricardo Fagundes known as ‘Paper Shorts’.
Ever since those allegations surfaced, the Lawyer has made a number attempts to have his client benefit from provisions of the Protected Disclosure Act but it has been to no avail. According to Hughes, weeks have passed and there has not been any move by the President or the Minister of Home Affairs to accede to his request.
The Lawyer said however that there should be no surprise at the lack of action to address the issue. “We live in a society where there is no serious commitment to meet international standards, whether it is the fight against corruption or in another area that requires putting actual systems in place that work for the benefit of the people…I have written to the [Minister] on operationalization of the Protected Disclosure Act and we are still awaiting a response. I should not be surprised at all because, Guyana is not a real place and our Politicians are not serious about these things,” he said.
To this end, the Lawyer said that the only alternative is for him to move to the Court to compel the Minister to operationalize the Act. “That is something to be done. This goes beyond the current matter and it will affect all the matters as it regards acts of exposing corruption,” he said.
Hughe’s client, Bascom who was earlier this year removed from investigating the killing of Fagundes and transferred to another location, had alleged a grand cover-up by senior ranks of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Guyana Police Force and the payment of a large bribe to a named officer as part of the cover-up.
The officer, as well as a prominent businessman linked to the crime, has since denied the allegations and even threatened to sue Bascom. Fagundes, a close friend of Roger Khan was riddled with more than 20 bullets on March 21, 2021 moments after he stepped out of Palm Court on Main Street, Georgetown. CCTV cameras had captured two shooters getting into a white, tinted Toyota Fielder motorcar, making good their escape.
After Bascom made the damning claims, Hughes wrote the President seeking his protection under the Protected Disclosure Act.
He wrote, “We are instructed to request, as we hereby do, that pursuant to the powers vested in you by virtue of section 9(2) of the Protected Disclosures Act 2018 that you establish an independent investigation peopled by regional or international police officers into the allegations of our client and the murder of Ricardo Fagundes. Our client stands by the statements he made and is prepared to testify under oath. We are instructed that our client who is an employee of the Guyana Police Force makes this disclosure against his employer and another employee of his employer.”
“We are further instructed to request as we hereby do, that in the absence of the establishment of a Protected Disclosures Commission as required by the aforementioned Act, our client be provided with ‘witness protection’ as set out in section 20 the Act. We fear that the life of our client is in grave danger. We wish to extend our appreciation to your Excellency for your kind intervention,” Hughes’s letter to President Ali concluded.
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