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Whistleblowing: Whistleblowers
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Making corruption a high-risk activity is one of whistleblowing's main strengths as an anti-corruption measure. However, it is not easy to encourage whistleblowing. In the absence of a legal framework, the personal costs of whistleblowing are very high. There are ... major impediments such as the weak protection and support accorded to whistleblowers. Policy and program initiatives designed to promote whistleblowing, thus, must consider the problems and issues attendant to its use as an anti-corruption measure. The results of the 50 interviews with policy stakeholders from government, the private sector, and civil society, elucidate on the following problems and issues in whistleblowing policy design:
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The second part of this paper is an analysis of the case study in terms of the theory of whistleblowing. An important part of the analysis is the way in which institutions use different forms of power in order to prevent or deal with whistleblowing. Organisations tend to use all means in their power to avoid addressing the issues raised by the whistleblower. These power plays should be taken into account when designing policy and institutional support for the effective use of whistleblowing as a tool for exposing corruption. The paper concludes with an evaluation of existing and envisioned support mechanisms and especially the role of the state in the protection of whistleblowers.
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In these models of corruption, it is easy to spot how whistleblowing can be an effective deterrent to corruption. Instituting whistleblowing could help the principal monitor the action of the agent, thereby reducing the latter’s discretion over his action. Likewise, the presence of whistleblowers could make the search for corrupt partners riskier and costlier. Indeed, many countries recognize the important role of whistleblowing and have enacted laws to encourage this behavior while protecting private firms, public institutions, and the economy from the abuse of its practice.
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In the private sector the issue of whistleblowing is not very clear cut. The reason being is that the subject is never as clear cut and in many cases the whistleblower has had to suffer considerable abuse and pressure to do what they believe is right. A typical example is an employee of a private company who observes one of his colleagues in a position of power, abusing their position for personal gain. The well-meaning employee has basically two choices; look the other way or find someone in a position of responsibility within the company to discuss the matter confidentially. The whistleblower may not necessarily receive the red carpet treatment and again the reasons are sometimes sensitive to an extreme. They may be reporting a situation to someone who is already aware of it, is a part of it or passively condones it. The person of authority who the whistleblower approaches may be offended that the company he or she works for or even owns, has a dishonest and/or immoral employee.
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Some stakeholders said that giving financial rewards to whistleblowers will make whistleblowing as a controversial tool for fighting corruption. There is a danger that people will the blow the whistle for the wrong reasons; rather than fighting corruption, the reward may become the primary motivation for whistleblowing. According to some stakeholders, rewards are not necessary because the reporting of wrongdoing is an inherent part of one's job or a citizen's responsibility. In addition, rewards may not be effective at all in encouraging actual whistleblowing.
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If an employee suffered retaliation because of whistleblowing, some legal recourse was available under state laws, especially in specific industries or classes of people such as employees exposed to hazardous waste. According to whistleblower advocates like Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project, such protections have been inadequate, and whistleblowers spend many years and dollars trying to prove retaliation. Unless they were able to gain media attention, whistleblowers in industry faced retaliation from their employers in the form of dismissal or other personal hardships.
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