Transparency Institute Guyana Incorporated (TIGI) yesterday condemned the victimisation of Nurse Sherlyn Marks, saying that her exposure of wrongdoing by a political operative was the right thing to do and highlighted the urgent need for whistleblower legislation.
“TIGI…salutes Ms Marks for taking a stand. Exposing the situation was the correct thing to do given that the system and the individuals in authority failed her,” the body said last evening in a strongly worded statement. TIGI also called out Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence and regional officials for failing to act on the exposed information.
Nurse Marks had complained about the abuse of medication by now resigned Region Five Councillor Carol Joseph. Lawrence has since said that Marks breached public service rules and as such her file has been sent to the Department of Public Service for action.
Yesterday TIGI drove home the point that in the absence of whistleblower legislation, those who expose wrongdoings by public officials will always be targeted.
In its press release, the body said in a very corrupt society and one in which the will of the people has been sidelined as politicians pursue narrow interests, whistleblowing is an important avenue through which corruption can be uncovered. “As one considers the mountain of evidence of mismanagement, fraud and corruption highlighted in the reports of the forensic audits that were commissioned by the coalition government when it took office, one is awed at how so much went unchecked and unexposed for so long across so many organs of the state,” the body said before pointing out that unless whistleblower legislation is ratified and supported by a will to implement, whistleblowing will remain costly to whistleblowers.
“Whistleblower legislation will be corrosive to the stomach of a sitting government in a corrupt society and it is not altogether surprising that the coalition government appears to have lost its appetite for implementation though it had drafted an act and held consultations after taking office,” TIGI said. “We have not yet realised enactment of such a law and when this is compared to some others that have been pushed through within the government’s first two years in office, it is easy to deduce the order of priorities.” The release said that without whistleblower legislation, retaliation by the politically connected and the powerful can mean “dire consequences for those who attempt to expose wrongdoing. Such retaliation can range from public labelling and ridiculing to loss of employment, other employment hardships and even worse. Consequences may also extend beyond the person directly drawing awareness, to family, friends and loved ones.”
The release said that awareness of the potential for such retaliation can instill fear and serve as a warning to those who might contemplate exposing corruption. “When this prevails, the cost is borne by the country as it continues to support parasites,” the body said.
TIGI while noting that it had previously highlighted the realities of an absence of whistleblower legislation said that five years after calling for an enactment of protection this “shoot the messenger” concept is still applicable given that the circumstances are set for bludgeoning Marks into oblivion or worse, for exposing Joseph’s abuse of power.
It was pointed out that in this case, Marks who was a nurse at the Fort Wellington Hospital, revealed that Joseph, while a sitting APNU Councillor in the local government council of Region Five, abused her power to leverage prescription painkiller injections. This revelation by the nurse was made following two complaints to her superiors in Region Five and to the Minister of Public Health. Marks, it was pointed out, was in a position where she considered herself exposed to eventually being held accountable for administering the prescription narcotic, Pethidine, more frequently and in a larger amount than usual to Joseph, but her cries for help went unanswered.
“The failure of the Minister of [Public] Health and the officials in the region to act, was perhaps exacerbated and encouraged by the absence of a functional Integrity Commission to which Ms Marks could have complained. We now know that in the circumstances, she was either going to be beaten into submission or face retaliation for resisting – exactly the choices available when whistleblower protection is absent in a corrupt society,” the release said.
It added, “If all that the ministry had done was ignore Ms Marks, this would be better than that which has occurred and that which has been set in motion. Instead, it retaliated. The first bit of retaliation was the transferring of Ms Marks to another facility without her having requested it.”
TIGI said that Marks’ move to address the matter publicly after two attempts to urge the responsible officers to act appears to have “embarrassed people of power who condoned Ms Joseph’s actions”.
Her transfer, it was pointed out was a “pathetic response”, but one that sounded the alarm that whistleblowing will still not be tolerated. “The transfer was done without consideration of any hardships or other changes in Ms Marks’s circumstances that would result.
“This is inferred from the fact that she was not consulted on her transfer. She was therefore treated like an expendable pawn for going public,” the release said.
According to the release, the response is now being taken further to the stage of attempting to institute charges against Marks for breach of confidentiality. “A disproportionate and public response has a long history of setting the stage for control and the message to be gleaned is that vicious retaliation by those with connections and power towards those who dare to expose wrongdoing is alive and well in Guyana,” the release said.
TIGI made it clear that it does not support breaking the law and it is not yet known whether Marks broke any laws or codes of conduct. “However, when those who have abused their power and those who have ignored their responsibility as public officials do so with impunity while those who dare to expose wrongdoings are made to feel the consequence, it is mere lip service to the idea for those in authority to proclaim support for whistleblowers,” it said.
The release said that TIGI is adding its voice to the few who have condemned the obviously retaliatory action against the nurse and implores others both within and external to her ministry, particularly those who proclaim their support of workers’ rights, to rise to her defence.
“Condoning retaliation against whistleblowers is a backward step in the fight against corruption,” the release stressed.
