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https://kiskadeewatch.com/opinion/letters/eight-years-and-three-governments-later-the-whistleblower-act-is-still-not-operational/
Letters To The Editor

Eight years and three governments later, the Whistleblower Act is still not operational

By

Dear Editor,

During Guyana’s review at the 140th Session of the UN Human Rights Committee (Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), which took place from March 18 to March 20, 2024, the Government was asked why the Protected Disclosures Act of 2018 was still not brought into operation by the Ministry of Legal Affairs. Their answer was that they had been unable to implement the Act due to “issues with the wording” [https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4046144?v=pdf].

I was a member of Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) at the time Parliament passed the Act and I remember that though the Bills being introduced had good intentions, our general concern was that they were accumulating too many discretionary powers to Ministers. Our submissions to the Ministry of Legal Affairs were routinely ignored.

Here is an extract from the official good intention of the Protected Disclosures Act of 2018. “An Act to combat corruption and other wrongdoings by encouraging and facilitating disclosures of improper conduct in the private and public sectors, to protect persons making those disclosures from detrimental action, …”.

Here are two examples of ministerial control. The first and most blatant is that there is no time limit to when the minister must bring the Act into operation. There is good reason for giving this responsibility to the minister, because the Protected Disclosures Commission has to be established and constituted. But no time limit is licence to get away with executive corruption and oppression of whistleblowers for as long as any government feels like.

The second is that although Section 4(4) of the Act states that the Commission shall not be subject to the direction and control of any other authority, S.4(5) makes the minister the exception. Eight years and three governments later, the Act is still not operational.

Despite acknowledging that the Act (commonly known as the Whistleblower Act) and the accompanying Witness Protection Act 2018 had not yet been formally operationalized, the 2024 government delegation asserted to the UN Human Rights Committee that even though the specific legislative framework was not fully functional, the Guyana Police Force provides direct protection to whistleblowers in practice!!!

Current police actions continue to expose this assertion as a lie. And the “wording” has little chance of being changed by a Parliament that hardly works, because its sittings are controlled by a partisan Speaker. Democracy requires integrity and dedicated, responsible work, but our ruling politicians have developed a scheme to live a cushy life supported by sycophants at the expense of ordinary hard-working people.

              Yours sincerely,

              Alfred Bhulai

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