AG defends whistleblower bill

JEMIMA BEUKES

Attorney-General Sacky Shanghala says controversial sections of the whistleblower bill are not aimed at punishing those exposing corruption, but at addressing the effects of “rumour-mongering”, which is common in the country.

According to Shanghala, newspapers are basing reports on rumours and that should be nipped in the bud. He said the media were mainly targeting the big fish, and there was no protection for those who hold public office.

“I do not understand why a person who goes and lies about something should not be punished,” said Shanghala, who was contributing to debate on the Whistleblower Protection Bill in the National Assembly.

“We are not saying the whistleblower must be punished…but when you lie.”

Shanghala emphasised that it was important to encourage whistleblowers in combating corruption, but pointed out that lawmakers must take notice of what had happened in the past when wrong and malicious information was leaked.

“We need to encourage truthful disclosure,” he urged.

DTA parliamentarian Vipuakuje Muharukua questioned the need for targeting whistleblowers rather than dealing with lying as ordinary perjury. He warned that the law would scare off potential whistleblowers.

“It is alarming that this law is made to hold in people who are telling what is perceived to be a lie. Lies and truths are subjective,” he argued.

Shanghala’s remarks come at a time when civil society organisations are calling on the government to reconsider the bill, which they believe will have the effect of frightening off whistleblowers, thereby rendering the Act null and void.

Last week the Action Coalition of Namibia (ACN) warned that passing the Whistleblower Protection Bill in its current form would invite legal challenges on constitutional grounds.

The ACN joined several other critics in urging the National Assembly to refer the bill to a standing committee for public hearings in order to address the bill’s constitutionality and what it described as “several serious flaws”.

The coalition warned that unless the whistleblower protection law had the confidence of the Namibian public it would fail to achieve its aims of encouraging people to report corruption.

Flaws

Federico Links, the organisation’s chairperson, listed three main flaws in the bill which the group said must be urgently reviewed before the bill was passed.

The organisation pointed out that Section 52 (1d), which deals with the withdrawal of whistleblower protection when the disclosure is critical of government policy, was “fundamentally unconstitutional”.

The section “violates the whistleblower’s right to freedom of expression and thought” as entrenched in the constitution, the organisation stated.

The group warned that the clause appeared to have been included “purely to ensure whistleblowers cannot criticise the government when making a disclosure.”

The group noted that the bill made provision for disclosures that could “quite easily concern matters of policy,” citing examples such as reports on waste in a government department or threats to the health and safety of a community, which could be labelled as questioning government policies.

The other two areas of concern are Section 30 (5a), which makes provision for a high penalty for false disclosures, and the lack of independence of the bodies provisionally tasked to deal with whistleblowers and their disclosures.