Commission consults on whistle-blowers
The Special Law Commission on the Development of Legislation on the Protection of Whistleblowers says Malawi needs a law to protect its resources from plunder by crooked duty-bearers who use intimidation to protect their interests.
The commission’s chairperson John Chirwa said this during a regional consultative workshop in Lilongwe yesterday aimed at getting input from stakeholders and the public in the Central Region as part of the law review processes.
He said once the legislation to protect whistle-blowers is in place, more people will start opening up and reporting malpractices happening in both public and private institutions.
“To say the truth, corruption is taking place at different levels but those who see it happening choose to shut their mouth for fear of reprisals especially when perpetrators are senior to them,” said Chirwa, a judge of the High Court of Malawi.
Law Commissioner Rosemary Kanyuka said since November 2023, they have been drafting the legislation and now the commission is soliciting views on the draft bill.
“We have assembled representatives from different sectors because we want to have a well represented legislation which covers every section of life,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the faith community, Evangelical Association of Malawi secretary general the Reverend Francis Mkandawire said the law will encourage whistle-blowers to report malpractices.
The commission will hold similar consultations in Blantyre and Mzuzu.
Currently, under the Corrupt Practices Act (CPA), there are provisions of whistleblowers protection. However the provisions are not strong enough to protect them as fines and sentences provided are lenient.
Section 51 A (5) of CPA provides that any person who takes any kind of action to punish or victimise a whistle-blower shall be liable to a fine of K50 000 and two years imprisonment.
