NATIONAL NEWS
MONROVIA – Liberia’s Witness Protection Agency (WPA) is calling for sweeping legislative reforms to revive the country’s dormant whistleblower incentive system, including a proposal to double the statutory financial reward for whistleblowers from five percent to 10 percent.
By: Blessing Nimely – Contributing Writer
The reform effort comes amid revelations that, despite the whistleblower protection legislation being in effect for five years, not a single whistleblower in Liberia has received a financial reward for information provided in corruption-related cases.
The WPA says the failure to compensate whistleblowers could undermine public confidence in the system and discourage citizens from providing information that could help expose and prosecute corruption.
Whistleblowers Contribute to Corruption Cases
Speaking during a legislative engagement on proposed amendments to the Witness Protection and Whistleblower Protection Acts of 2021, WPA Executive Director Atty. Teklo Maxwell Grigsby II highlighted the importance of whistleblowers in Liberia’s fight against corruption.
According to Grigsby, whistleblowers have provided information in approximately 35 percent of corruption cases prosecuted by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission over the past three years.
He said the reward provisions contained in the law, however, have not been fully implemented, with the agency recording no payment to whistleblowers since the law took effect in 2021.
“Whistleblowers have contributed information in approximately 35% of corruption cases prosecuted by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission over the last three years. However, the reward provisions of the law have not been fully implemented. Since 2021, we have zero record of paying 5%. Failure to compensate whistleblowers risks discouraging citizens from reporting corruption,” Grigsby said.
WPA Identifies Major Barriers to Payments
The Witness Protection Agency identified two major structural challenges that have prevented whistleblowers from receiving their statutory rewards.
The first is the absence of a dedicated budgetary allocation. According to the WPA, the national government has consistently failed to provide specific funding in the annual national budget to meet the statutory financial obligations to whistleblowers.
The second challenge involves judicial bottlenecks. Under Section 18 of the 2021 legal framework, financial rewards are tied to final, unappeasable court judgments.
The WPA says anti-corruption cases can remain tied up in prolonged appeals, including proceedings before the Supreme Court, delaying the enforcement of judgments and effectively freezing whistleblower reward payments.
Employer Compliance Criticized
The WPA also raised concerns about widespread non-compliance with Section 16 of the whistleblower protection law.
The provision requires public and private employers to prominently display information about whistleblower protections at their workplaces, allowing employees and others to know their rights and protections under the law.
Grigsby said compliance with this requirement remains extremely low among both public and private institutions.
“The compliance today is below 0.0001% for public and private employers. Any law that does not prescribe punishment is information. Because you didn’t put punishment there, enforcement is almost impossible,” he said.
The WPA is therefore seeking stronger enforcement mechanisms, including penalties for institutions that fail to comply with the legal requirements.
WPA Proposes US$1 Million Annual Trust Fund
To address the financial and institutional challenges, the agency is proposing the creation of a victim-focused trust fund backed by mandatory annual government budgetary allocations of US$1 million.
The proposed mechanism would also include targeted tax contributions to ensure sustainable financing for witness protection services and whistleblower rewards.
The WPA believes establishing a dedicated and predictable funding mechanism would help prevent the reward system from becoming dependent on uncertain annual allocations or delayed legal processes.
Grigsby also defended the proposal to increase the whistleblower reward from five to 10 percent, arguing that stronger incentives could encourage more citizens to participate in efforts to expose corruption.
“If we increase the reward to 10%, citizens will participate in governance through that process. To prevent corruption and increase the taxable income so that we collect the billions we are supposed to collect, we need to make sure citizens get some of the money too,” he said.
Speaker Koon Signals Legislative Support
Legislative leadership has meanwhile indicated a willingness to consider the proposed reforms.
House Speaker Richard Koon assured stakeholders that the proposed amendments would receive prompt, thorough and fair consideration once they are formally submitted to the House of Representatives.
His assurance comes as stakeholders increasingly call for stronger legal and institutional mechanisms to protect individuals who provide information about corruption and other serious offenses.
Civil Society Welcomes Reform Push
The WPA’s proposal has received support from civil society organizations and international watchdog institutions, including the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Stakeholders say effective witness and whistleblower protection mechanisms are essential to strengthening Liberia’s justice system, particularly as the country prepares for the operations of the War and Economic Crimes Court and the National Anti-Corruption Courts.
They argue that citizens must have confidence that they can safely report corruption, receive adequate protection and, where legally justified, benefit from the financial incentives provided under the law.
The ongoing legislative reform effort could therefore mark a significant step toward transforming Liberia’s whistleblower framework from a largely inactive legal provision into a functioning system capable of encouraging citizens to report corruption and supporting the country’s broader accountability and justice efforts.
