Source of trouble
"We living in jail, we living in jail''. Sing Penguin's 1984 calypso
as AG Ramlogan's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) demands from Newsday's
Andre Bagoo his source for the story on feuding between the Integrity
Commission's Ken Gordon and Gladys Gafoor. If the ACB gets the
information from Bagoo without judicial intervention and a
constitutional battle, then as Penguin said in 1984 "freedom gone clean
out of we control".
If the State of Emergency picked fundamental rights from the country's back pockets, the AG's ACB reaches in a more bold-faced manner into the front pocket of our journalists. The ACB's request contradicts the PM's philosophy on confidential sources and whistleblowers and, in line with other Commonwealth decisions, the local court will erect the constitutional fence which protects Bagoo, his sources and his profession.
This is of course what we expect given the PM's philosophy on whistleblowers and confidential sources. Speaking in Parliament in April 2009 on the PNM government's proposal to require a person making a complaint against someone in public life or any person exercising a public function, to do so by swearing a statutory declaration MP Persad-Bissessar correctly characterised the change as oppressive, onerous and intended to hinder the man-in-the-street from making complaints.
MP Persad-Bissessar described whistle-blowing protection as very
important and supported systems for protecting public servants and
private citizens who in good faith report acts of corruption.
Whistleblowers and other confidential sources under the integrity
legislation are no different from the confidential sources journalists
and police officers use to defend and promote the public's interests.
MP Persad-Bissessar's philosophy is consistent with the Dodd-Frank-type legislation which is likely to be pervasive in a post-Madoff, post-Stanford and post-CLICO era, promoting whistle-blowing for reward while balancing private and public interests.
If the State of Emergency picked fundamental rights from the country's back pockets, the AG's ACB reaches in a more bold-faced manner into the front pocket of our journalists. The ACB's request contradicts the PM's philosophy on confidential sources and whistleblowers and, in line with other Commonwealth decisions, the local court will erect the constitutional fence which protects Bagoo, his sources and his profession.
This is of course what we expect given the PM's philosophy on whistleblowers and confidential sources. Speaking in Parliament in April 2009 on the PNM government's proposal to require a person making a complaint against someone in public life or any person exercising a public function, to do so by swearing a statutory declaration MP Persad-Bissessar correctly characterised the change as oppressive, onerous and intended to hinder the man-in-the-street from making complaints.
MP Persad-Bissessar's philosophy is consistent with the Dodd-Frank-type legislation which is likely to be pervasive in a post-Madoff, post-Stanford and post-CLICO era, promoting whistle-blowing for reward while balancing private and public interests.
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