Africa-Press – Namibia. ACTIVISTS, legal counsel and whistleblowers are among those who are accusing the government of deliberately neglecting a programme that will protect citizens who want to speak out against corruption.
The Whistleblower Protection Act was passed by parliament in 2017, but has not been brought into force yet. The act can only come into force on a date set by the minister of justice in the Government Gazette.
The government’s commitment was yesterday questioned by citizens and officials during a whistleblowers’ protection workshop, hosted by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID), and the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (Pplaaf) at the House of Democracy in Windhoek.
IPPR executive director Graham Hopwood said whistleblowing has become a crucial issue in Namibia, especially in light of the Fishrot and other scandals.
“It is convenient for some to delay whistleblower protection as they don’t want more people coming forward with information,” he said.
Hopwood said they have been posing questions to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance regarding the establishment of a whistleblower protection unit.
Justice ministry documents seen by The Namibian indicate that about N$160 million is needed to get the whistleblower unit off the ground. This amount includes personnel expenditure of N$40 million, goods and other services of N$80 million, and office and equipment costs of about N$19 million.
“The official reason from the finance ministry was that they are in a fiscal crisis and there is no money to set up these kinds of offices,” Hopwood said.
No money was allocated to whistleblower protection in this year’s national budget. “I am concerned there may be more delays even after the policy is passed, and the access to information bill could face a similar situation,” he said.
Businesswoman-turned-whistleblower Sharon Neumbo said the delay in making whistleblower protection a reality is deterring people from speaking out against corruption.
Neumbo is a whistleblower in the Fishrot corruption scandal. She said it is costly to be a whistleblower without any protection. “How many lawyers will you instruct to fight for you?” she asked.
Neumbo said a whistleblowers’ protection unit is crucial for a small country like Namibia. She said she has on many occasions reported threatening incidents, yet no help was offered.
Instead, she was told to change her vehicle’s number plates or take a different route to her daughter’s school, she said. “Why am I changing my life for doing the right thing?” she asked.
Pplaaf’s legal counsel, Zanele Mbuyisa, said those who question a whistleblower are giving the corrupt ways to hide. “Whether the whistleblower was complicit or not I don’t think it should be an issue,” she said.
Mbuyisa said whistleblowers who are implicated in wrongdoing carry a higher burden because they need to obtain immunity from the courts. Justice minister Yvonne Dausab’s office was not able to comment yesterday.
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