The Economic Community of West African States’, or ECOWAS, recently held a weeklong anti-corruption meeting in Monrovia, Liberia. Attendees included 13 West African countries, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Arms, and international partners. As Tunde Ajisomo, ECOWAS ambassador to Liberia noted, “Fighting corruption is everybody’s business, but we need to put in place appropriate legislation.” Ajisomo also underscored the importance of supporting whistleblowers, urging, “It is important that we protect whistle-blowers, as the role they play is critical.”
While recognizing the role of whistleblowers and their need for protection is incredibly important, Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center, expressed caution regarding this particular initiative, “Unless a country can demonstrate an effective democratic infrastructure capable of fully protecting and rewarding whistleblowers, we would not recommend blowing the whistle or using such a country’s laws. A poorly structured whistleblower program can be counter-productive and dangerous. Currently, the United States has effective, transnational whistleblower laws, like the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, and certain wildlife anti trafficking laws which we do recommend using.”
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