In 2022, the government revised the Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act, Cap. 466. The Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act is enacted to:

promote and facilitate reporting of organized crimes, corruption offences, unethical conduct, abuse of office, illegal and dangerous activities;

To provide for the protection of whistleblowers and witnesses against potential retaliation or victimisation; and

To provide for a legal mechanism to reward and compensate whistleblowers and witnesses and to provide for other related matters

Who is Whistleblower

The Black Law Dictionary defines Whistleblower to mean an employee who reports employer wrongdoings to a governmental or law- enforcement agency. In another hands, in the Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act Whistleblower is defines to means any person who makes the disclosure of wrongdoing in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Who is a Witness

Per the Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act, Witness is a person who gives or agrees to give evidence before a court or quasi-judicial body or makes a statement to a law enforcement agency. The Black Law Dictionary had more weight on who is a witness to mean someone who sees, knows, or vouches for something.
Therefore, the difference between a Whistleblower and a Witness is that a witness gives evidence of what he saw, what he knows in court while a Whistleblower any person who makes the disclosure of wrongdoing usualy to the government or police.

Public interest disclosure

A person employed either in public or private institution is free to report in writing, sign language or orally any act for public interest to the head or senior person in his/ her institution who has an authority to investigate the wrongdoing reported whenever he/she is reasonable belief that,

A crime has been committed, is about to be committed or is likely to be committed;

Another person has not complied with a law or is in the process of breaking a law or is likely to break a law which imposes an obligation on that person;

The health or safety of an individual or community is endangered, has been endangered or is likely to be endangered;

In a public institution there has been, there is likely to be waste, misappropriation or mismanagement of public resources or abuse of office.

The environment has been degraded, is being degraded or is likely to be degraded.

A disclose can also be done to

A Chairman or member of a Village Council;

A head of recognised religious body;

A Councilor, Mayor or Council Chairman; or

A Member of Parliament.

Protection of Whistleblowers

A whistleblower will not be subjected to criminal or civil proceedings in respect of:

The disclosure is made in good faith;

The whistleblower has reasonable cause to believe that the information disclosed and allegation of wrongdoing contained in it is substantially valid; and

The disclosure is made in accordance with the provisions of Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act

For the purpose of promoting and facilitating reporting of a wrongdoing, a whistleblower or a witness may be rewarded or compensated.

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