Government will be in a better position to hold people accused of wrongdoing accountable with the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Bill, 2022.
This, from Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley during his contribution to debate of the 2nd reading of the Bill in the House of Representatives on Friday.
The Bill aims to combat corruption and other wrongdoings by encouraging and facilitating disclosures of improper conduct in the public and private sector. It also seeks to protect persons making disclosures from detrimental action, and regulate the receiving, investigating, or otherwise dealing with disclosures of improper conduct.
The Prime Minister is hopeful that the Bill will encourage more people to come forward with any information they may have on instances of wrongdoing.
The Whistleblower Protection Bill, 2015, was introduced during the First Session of the Eleventh Parliament and referred to a Joint Select Committee. Following stakeholder consultation, the Bill was revised. It was later reintroduced as the Whistleblower Protection Bill, 2018. At a sitting of the House of Representatives held on May 6th, 2019, the Motion for the Third reading was not approved as the Bill did not receive the requisite Three-Fifths majority.