Muting the whistleblower through retaliation in selected African countries

Abstract

The paper discusses whistleblowing in selected African countries as public service ethical issue with a view to identifying its attendant hazards. It was developed mainly from secondary sources of data. It relied on relevant reported cases of whistleblowing that received wide and credible coverage in the selected African countries and international news media as well as attracting the attention of local and international human rights activists and advocates. The paper attempts to stimulate discussions on the phenomenon of whistleblowing as a way of getting policy makers fashion out policies meant to promote whistleblowing. It asserts that legal provisions alone are not sufficient to protect the whistleblower from retaliation and intimidation and proposes a strong political will from the ruling elite and their collaborators to follow not only the letter, but also the spirit of the tenets of the law. It is only when people are truly confident that the protections guaranteed by the legislation and institutional set up are substantive in nature will they be motivated to expose wrongdoing. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.