Dar es Salaam/Dodoma. Individuals exposing corruption and abuse
of office will now be protected and rewarded under a proposed new law
that would inject fresh impetus in the fight against the vice in the
country.
The same protection will also cover those
revealing acts of ommission or commision on environmental degradation
and threats to public health.
The government is moving to enact the law to
insulate the whistleblowers from victimisation in a Bill tabled in
Parliament yesterday for the first reading. It will now be sent to the
public and other stakeholders for discussion before the final enactment.
The tabling of the Whistleblower and Witness
Protection Bill would be seen in light of growing concern that the
corruption cancer was eating into the heart of the nation, with the
country experiencing scandal after the other over the years, with
efforts to tame the problem not yielding quick results.
Tanzania has consistently dropped over the years
in the global corruption index, with the latest mega scandal in the
Sh320 billion Tegeta escrow account saga subjecting the government to a
budget financing crisis when donors withdheld funding to push for an
investigation and punishment of the culprits.
Anti-corruption and public rights activists
yesterday positively greeted the move to enact a specific law to
encourage the public to expose corruption, saying the Bill was a
milestone in enhancing good governance and transparency.
If the Bill sails through in Parliament, it will
offset hurdles and fears that Tanzanians who wanted to report on
organised crime, corruption, unethical conduct and illegal and dangerous
activities encountered in the past.
Such was the case of the former Bank of Tanzania
(BoT) employee who was fired from his job a few years ago for playing a
part in the revelation of the bank’s twin-towers building scandal, in
which billions of shillings were lost when the contract was grossly
multipied.
The Bill proposes to enact the law with a view to
putting in place a mechanism for the protection, rewarding and
compensating whistleblowers and witnesses.
Under the Bill, whistleblowers are allowed to
disclose the wrongdoing by writing, sign language or orally and in case
their life, property or jobs are endangered, the government will protect
them against the threats.
If any person divulges any information relating to
the identity of the whistleblower, the law says they commit an offence
and shall be liable to at least three-year imprisonment or a minimum
fine of Sh5 million or both. And for the authority that will ignore the
information disclosed, the Bill states; “Any competent authority who
fails to take an action in relation to the wrongdoing reported by a
whistleblower and as a result of that failure he occasions loss to a
public institution, commits an offence and shall, upon conviction, be
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 18 months or to a
fine of not less than Sh3 million or to both.”
However, rumour mongers risk being jailed for at least one year or Sh1 million fine or both. The Bill
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