AU anti-graft body to draft whistleblower law

The African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption (AUABC) has been called upon to draft a model law for continent-wide “Effective Whistleblowers Protection Mechanism” as the fight against graft garners new impetus. The recommendation was one of the takeaways from the 8th Edition of the African Anti-Corruption Dialogue held in Arusha from November 7-8, 2024. AUABC is an 11-member organ of the African Union (AU) made up of two members from each of the major sub-regions of Southern, Eastern, Central, western and Northern Africa. One member occupies a floating seat. Sources later told ‘The Arusha News’ that AUABC will start in earnest to draft the law early next year in collaboration with Amesty International (AI), other human rights bodies and anti – graft partners. Whistleblower protection is considered a key aspect of the fight against corruption, which is dangerous as it is always against powerful entities, often also camouflaged as highly pious individuals in society, the Dialogue heard. AUABC Chairperson, Hon Seynabou Ndiaye Diakhate said in opening remarks that Africa loses about dollars 50 billion annually through corruption. The amount is roughly equal to Uganda’s entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to 2023 figures. It is about two thirds of Tanzania’s GDP and about half that of Kenya. Apart from the legal framework, whistleblower protection requires substantial resource allocation as it sometimes entails changing the identities of witnesses, internal relocation or change of nationality altogether, the Deputy Director-General of Tanzania’s Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Ms Neema Mwakalyelye told the gathering. AUABC Executive Secretary, Mrs Charity Nchimunya told the meeting that there was need to tighten anti-corruption laws despite the AUABC convention being adopted by African countries in 2003. The convention entered into force on August 5, 2006 with at least seven countries yet to ratify it. A case is often made of Thulani Maseko, an Eswatini lawyer, critical of government wrongdoing who was shot dead in front of members of his family by assailants who raided their residence in Mbabane, the capital on January 21, 2023. Justice for his killing remains elusive, said AI. Former Nigerian Finance Minister, Ngozi OkonjoIweala, had vowed to fight corruption but had a taste of how dangerous it could be when in 2012, her 83-yearold mother was kidnapped, with her captors demanding Okonko-Iweala denounce her drive and announce her resignation on live television. She did not. Her mother escaped and Iweala fought graft with renewed vigour. She is currently the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation ( W T O ) i n G e n ev a w i t h Nigeria still steeped deep in corruption.