Anti-graft body decries lack of whistleblower law

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has raised eyebrows over absence of substantive legislation to protect whistleblowers in the country.

While noting that Kenya has made progress in terms of whistle blowing, EACC spokesperson Eric Ngumbi said there are still challenges choking Whistle blowing with legal lacuna being the key barricade.

Acknowledging whistle blowing plays a critical role in the anti-corruption process, Ngumbi asked the National Assembly to fast-track the ongoing enactment of a whistleblower protection law.

Without effective mechanisms to protect whistleblowers, he said there will be a clear trust deficit as people with critical information that could have been shared to advance the fight against corruption could be reluctant to come forward.

“We have the whistleblower protection bill that has been pending in parliament since 2021 and we call upon the national’s assembly to expedite that bill because today the absence of that framework remains one of the major impediments to an effective attack on corruption,” Ngumbi said.

He was addressing journalists in Mombasa on the sidelines of a Regional Investigative Journalism Conference on Corruption and Whistle-blower protection in Eastern Africa where he hailed the media saying it has played a vibrant and remarkable role in advancement of good governance, public accountability and constitutionalism. In the fight against corruption, he said the Kenyan media has taken the bull by its horns noting that approximately 25 percent of all corruption cases investigated by EACC are from the media sources.