cental

The CENTAL/OSIWA project to promote the Liberian National Anti-Corruption Strategy, a Government and Civil Society supported blue print for combating endemic corruption, has ended with a roundtable to plan drafting of a whistleblower protection legislation for the country. The roundtable which brought together stakeholders from Government, media and civil society, was held at the Krystal Oceanview Hotel in Monrovia.

 Among stakeholders present at the gathering were Commissioner Hawa-Goll Kotchi of the Governance Commission (GC), Deputy Minister Eva Morgan of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Counselor Ruth Jappah of the GC, Deputy Minister Norris Tweah of Ministry of Information (MOI), Minister Tiawon Gongloe on Ministry of Labor (MOL), representatives from the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and several media practitioners from UNMIL Civil Affairs, Star Radio, Truth FM, Daily Observer, New Democrat, among others.

Minister Tweah, who served as moderator of the discussion, in his welcome remarks expressed his appreciation to everyone for taking time off their busy schedules to be present at the meeting. Stressing the importance of the whistleblower protection statute to combating corruption, the Minister stated that the sooner we have one in place the better it becomes for a successful national anti-corruption drive. He lamented the lack of progress in drafting a whistleblower protection statute for the country up to present. 

The Minister continued that the absence of the Act was regretable because the process of drafting a whistleblower act falls within the deliverables of his Ministry. However, now that it has reached this point, crafting the Act looks more achievable now that other stakeholders have gotten involved.  Minister Tweah remained hopeful and expressed that at the conclusion of the roundtable there would emerge concrete ideas for the drafting of a whistleblower protection statute for Liberia. 

Following Minister Tweah’s remarks, the Executive Director CENTAL who spoke on behalf of civil society (CS) stressed the need for CS and government to build a relationship that would allow for the achievement of governance program beneficial to all.  He welcomed government players’ acknowledgement of the relevance of a Whistleblowers Act, and its importance as an instrument to fight corruption. Other stakeholders at different periods, described the whistleblower Act as critical to the fight against corruption, saying the law would empower citizens to report corruption cases without fear of reprisal. They all recognized that a whistleblower protection law would help boost efforts of the LACC and hasten progress with the national anti-corruption program. During the deliberations, stakeholders were in agreement with setting up three steering committees to spearhead the process of formulating a draft whistleblower protection act.

The committees included Drafting and Research, Budgeting and Public Relations (PR). Members of the Drafting and Research Committee are MOL, CENTAL, MOJ, GC, MICAT, LACC, LNBA and another CSO. The GC chairs this Committee. Institutions to serve on the Budgeting Committee include LACC, CENTAL and Ministry of Information, with LACC as chair. The Committee on PR includes MOI, MOJ, CSOs, UNMIL, PUL, LMC and CEMESP. Ministry of Information occupies the chairmanship of this Committee.

At the close of discussion, it was decided that meeting dates of the Committees are decided by the various chairs. Meanwhile, they were given a three month period to submit the completed draft Act for review by the different stakeholders, with the first draft to be submitted in two weeks. MICAT was charged with the responsibility to coordinate activities of the Committees.  

Finally,  it was agreed that the institutions that would serve as major stakeholders in this process shall include CENTAL, GC, MOI, MOJ, MOL, LNBA, PUL, LMC, CEMESP, MICAT, LACC, LEITI, and others as will be necessary.