Abstract:
The paper discusses whistleblowing in selected African countries as public service ethical issue with a view to
identifying its attendant hazards. It was developed mainly from secondary sources of data. It relied on relevant
reported cases of whistleblowing that received wide and credible coverage in the selected African countries and
international news media as well as attracting the attention of local and international human rights activists and
advocates. The paper attempts to stimulate discussions on the phenomenon of whistleblowing as a way of getting
policy makers fashion out policies meant to promote whistleblowing. It asserts that legal provisions alone are not
sufficient to protect the whistleblower from retaliation and intimidation and proposes a strong political will from the
ruling elite and their collaborators to follow not only the letter, but also the spirit of the tenets of the law. It is only when
people are truly confident that the protections guaranteed by the legislation and institutional set up are substantive in
nature will they be motivated to expose wrongdoing.