The Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC) criticises the lack of financial and other resources that continue to limit the protection of whistleblowers in Mozambique, 12 years after the approval of the Law for the Protection of Victims, Whistleblowers and Witnesses and the creation of the Central Office for Victim Protection (GCPV).
This was stated by the deputy director of the GCCC, Eduardo Sumana, during the “Seminar to Reflect on Effective Whistleblower Protection Mechanisms: A Fundamental Instrument for Fighting Corruption”, an event that took place this Thursday, 11 July, in Maputo.
According to Agência de Informação de Moçambique, Eduardo Sumana pointed to the lack of regulation of the law on the matter and its operationalisation by the Central Office for Victim Protection (GCPV) as an example. “We have a shortage of financial, technical and human resources to strengthen the mechanisms for protecting whistleblowers and all those who collaborate,” he explained, noting that “the slogan chosen by the African Union for the seminar serves as a profound reflection on the mechanisms for protecting whistleblowers as an essential instrument for combating corruption”.
“In the current context, the law has been applied by the GCPV in part through the application of certain measures, namely the concealment or change of identity of a whistleblower or witness,” he pointed out.
However, he continued, there is a need for bolder regulations to protect whistleblowers, as well as the application of certain measures in the proceedings carried out by the GCCV. “For example, the removal of a witness from one jurisdiction to another entails some financial costs in terms of housing,” he said.
GCCC premises
For her part, the representative of Spanish Cooperation and the European Union, Edurne Iñigo Regalado, said that corruption remains a persistent challenge for all societies in the world and harms economic development, social justice and citizens’ trust in public institutions.
She emphasised that combating this phenomenon “has been one of the key axes in the framework of the partnership signed by Mozambique and Spain in the area of justice, peace and inclusion”.
For this reason, Edurne Iñigo Regalado considers the fight against corruption to be a priority for many governments, as is the case in Mozambique and Spain, which calls for more effective efforts to protect whistleblowers by strengthening the capacities of the public administration and civil society.
“Whistleblowers play a very important role in this fight, without neglecting the fact that they suffer intimidation, reprisals and persecution,” he said, emphasising the importance of developing and implementing robust mechanisms to protect whistleblowers so that efforts to combat corruption are effective and sustainable, with a view to promoting a culture of integrity and responsibility.
