Ever since the practice of whistle blowing started in the world, different countries have varyingly made use of it. Some found it very useful and capitalized on it to curb certain malpractices like corruption, abuse of office, impunity and other evils.
Perhaps among the most famous cases of whistle blowing are the case of Julian Assange and Edward Snowdon. Though these cases were highly controversial as they seemed to cross the line between exposing evil practices to divulging sensitive secrets which could lead to a loss of life. On whether these are right or wrong, the jury is still out on that.
One thing is clear though, whistle blowing generally can only be good for a country. When we consider it properly we find out that it is important. What we need therefore is to encourage the culture in our country.
In the previous regime, we usually heard bogus charges being preferred against people who sought to blow the whistle on evil doers. We often heard Mr X has been charged with ‘giving false information to a public officer’. Ridiculous! My friend, he is bringing you information for the good of the country and you charge him?
It is necessary that we have a framework on how to enhance the idea of whistle blowing. Let us have a system in which someone who blows the whistle—say on his boss or some other official—he will not fear for the repercussions. In this way, we open the doors to honest people to come forward and expose evil and corruption.
This will reduce corruption and evil significantly and be of great service to the economy of the nation.
