Put in whistleblower protection too, says Atherley

Leader of the Opposition Bishop Joseph Atherley on Tuesday insisted that whistleblower legislation be passed for any corruption laws to hold weight in the courts while giving his support for a new anti-corruption and counter-terrorism agency.

Bishop Atherley was speaking in the House of Assembly as lawmakers debated the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Terrorism Agency Bill, which is aimed at fighting both public and private sector corruption.

Although the bill is going in the right direction, he said, laws governing protected disclosure are needed for witnesses to corruption.

He said: “We have to make sure that other important strands of legislation are also in place; what is called protected disclosure legislation in other places [and] the Caribbean, protected disclosure is put in place… people are aware of what is happening and want to get the warnings out and put the public spotlight on what is happening, but we come with some measure of difficulty to the business of putting in place protective disclosure whistleblower legislation.”

The opposition leader also said that it was the responsibility of Government to protect these witnesses who take a risk in reporting criminal acts to the authorities.

“When people blow the whistle and bring things to the public eye and the attention of the authorities, they are not to be victimized and made to suffer as a result of their actions in the interest of the [public],” he declared.

Campaign financing is another area Bishop Atherley suggested ought to be covered in future legislation. He warned that corruption could also affect the political campaigns of national parties when fundraising for elections.

Bishop Atherley told fellow lawmakers: “We need to have proper election financing – people need to be fully dissuaded from the view, that you can support a political party with the absolute assurance, that if they win and become the government, it is your day to enjoy your sweets to the exclusion of others because they won with your support, you have a muscular arm around their necks and you choose when they breathe or otherwise.

“We need electoral financing, and I did not hear that mentioned as part of the sweep of legislation which is coming and again I repeat that we need that.”

Though the new agency was cited as a mostly autonomous entity, the opposition leader said he hoped its bill would be amended to ensure it remains free from any government influence as it carries out its tasks.

He said: “Many times, those institutional entities that we create, fall prey to either the political process, or some other processes which are mighty, and which do not necessarily serve to enforce the end for which the entities themselves have been created.

“My concern would be, that the agency we seek to establish, does in fact not only in word but in deed as well, have a sufficiency in operational independence and autonomy that it can properly serve the ends for which it is intended.” (SB)