Ombudsman welcomes Whistleblower Bill

The Whistle-blowers bill is an important factor in the fight against corruption and other social evils in the country, says the Office of Ombudsman.Speaking to The Sunday Times yesterday, the Deputy Ombudsman, Bernedette Kanzayire, observed that providing vital information without fear plays a leading role against graft.On Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies approved the long awaited bill that would soon enable people to make lawful disclosures of classified information on graft-related crimes without retribution.A whistleblower is a person who informs the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities or misconduct occurring in a government department, a public or private organisation, or a company. “We welcome this bill and it is an important step towards implementing the zero tolerance policy to corruption,” Kanzayire said.She pointed out that naturally people will fear to disclose corruption related cases in their institutions due to the fact that, there is no law to protect them.“This bill is timely and it’s going to help us in executing our duties more efficiently because people will be willing to report any misconduct in the society,” she noted.The alleged misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, violation of law, rule, regulation or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption. Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally or externally. The bill states that any entity that receives disclosures must establish reliable mechanisms designed to protect whistleblowers, including their secret reception and the filing of disclosures by using a security code. “There are misconduct cases that are hard to monitor and may also not be reported. This is why whistleblowers are very important in the society because they will be reporting these cases. This is going to make our work easier,” said Immaculee Ingabire, Chairperson of Transparency Rwanda.She noted that people fear to disclose illegal activities in their communities, arguing that once they reveal the information, they victims would harm them.“As Transparency Rwanda, we are happy with this development. Our work is to get clear information from the source and we have people who want to work with us in private without putting their life at risk,” Ingabire stated.According to the bill, a file of disclosure received shall bear a security code corresponding to a registered whistleblower. Bernard Alain Mukurarinda, the Spokesman of National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), said corruption related cases are going to reduce since people will not fear to report such cases.“The bill is an important milestone towards fighting against crimes in any nation. We are happy Rwandans have considered this bill,” he emphasised. Article 16 states that an employee or any other person is not liable, civically, criminally or under administrative process, for making public interest disclosure when he or she did it in good faith.Worldwide, whistleblowers’ disclosures have helped save billions of dollars, and even human lives as people “blow the whistle” and disclose acts violating the code of conduct and professional ethics governing authorities of public and non-public institutions are protected.