Kristen Gyles | The ‘alarmist’ name tag and whistle-blowing

It is funny how Shane Dalling is an ‘alarmist’ when practically everything he said has been confirmed by the Integrity Commission’s report. That is, everything plus more. Firearm licences given to ex-convicts, preferentially fast-tracked applications, licences approved for relatives with criminal history, etc. It’s even more interesting that those who tried to stick the ‘alarmist’ label on Mr Dalling are now being called out for impropriety. Coincidence?

The truth is, one typical tell-tale sign of corruption is that everyone hates the whistle-blower. There is usually a preference instead for people who have an active sixth sense that tells them what to see and hear from what not to.

Recently when Dalling, the chief executive officer of the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA), came out dropping bombshells regarding corruption at the FLA, there were mixed views. Only few were able to appreciate the sincerity in what he was trying to do. Many persons tried to dismiss him as a loose cannon who had been repeatedly crying “wolf”.

CRY WOLF

I would rather for the boy to cry wolf 200 times when there is no wolf than for him to shut up for fear of being an alarmist and let the wolf tear me to pieces. In any case, we all know there is a wolf. The Integrity Commission’s report confirms the allegations of impropriety. Further to that, at least three key stakeholders have referred to the FLA as a “cesspool of corruption”, so the only disagreement is with who is responsible for the corruption, not that there actually is corruption.

The most pathetic part of the entire sequence of events is that the People’s National Party (PNP) had gone as far as to request that the national security minister remove Shane Dalling as the CEO of the FLA. Why?

The explanation sounded something like “Shane Dalling should be dismissed because he can’t fix the FLA’s problems.” Sounds like you want Super Dalling to work a miracle. One individual can’t purge an entire organisation of corruption, especially when it is a “cesspool of corruption” as we have heard. Furthermore, I think it’s obvious efforts were being made to address the issues of corruption. One now-implicated member of the PNP admitted that when he complained that Dalling was “calling in MOCA” every minute. The question that arises is why would anyone be annoyed by repeated calls for criminal investigations to be done if they agree that the FLA has been a “cesspool of corruption”? But, politics.

The same PNP affiliate continues by saying the public is not aware of a single successful prosecution or arrest arising from any of Mr Dalling’s multiple disclosures. I, too, am not sure why Super Dalling didn’t put on his police cape and arrest somebody but it could have something to do with the fact that there are other superheroes out there who are responsible for that. An arrest having never been made doesn’t mean the whistle-blowing should be condemned.

BROADER POINT

The broader point is that there are lessons here as to why some government agencies are rife with corruption. First, if I fear that my complaint as a whistle-blower will only fall on the ears of corrupt people who will try to shut me up, then why would I waste my time reporting anything to them? Heads of government agencies, especially, need to be assured that they are reporting to honest and upstanding boards who are not complicit with wrongdoing. Clearly, the head of this agency didn’t feel that way.

The second issue is that there seems to be hardly any protection for whistle-blowers. I fail to understand how within a context of rampant crime and talks about 15-year minimum sentences for persons found with illegal firearms, it could be a bad thing to have an overzealous CEO as the head of the FLA. Yet, Mr Dalling calls a press conference to highlight irregularities within the FLA and then hears that him chat too much and he should resign. Resign for what? For whistle-blowing? That’s what it sounds like.

And this is largely what perpetuates the ‘see and blind, hear and deaf’ mentality. These days, it takes a special kind of courage to come forward with meaningful information because there is no guarantee that an individual won’t be victimised by the very same persons they may have accused. At the very minimum, people shouldn’t have to fear job loss or any other form of persecution because they call attention to something they think is irregular. Even if it isn’t irregular.

To add to that, Jamaicans, for whatever reason, have imbibed an attitude that dictates that only the one who gets shot needs to concern himself with reporting the shooter. As long as that mentality lingers, crime and corruption won’t be going anywhere. Other people and their victimisation has to become everybody’s problem. But again, when it is just not safe to not mind your own business, what do you do?

Corruption might just be the death of us – whether by starving the hungry of the basic resources they should get or by enabling criminals who make a career out of dropping bullets like raindrops. We shouldn’t be trying to castigate people who do what they can to expose corruption.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com.