Goran Lefkov
The benefits of the whistleblowers’ deeds are enormous. They save both time and money and resources of law enforcement agencies. In some cases they have far-reaching benefits, as was the case with Gjorgji Lazarevski and Zvonko Kostovski. With their heroism, an entire country managed to get rid of a dictatorship.
There was a similar session on the World Whistleblowers Day organized in Skopje. The Coordinator of Southeast Europe Coalition on Whistleblower Protection, Arjan Dyrmishi, believes that the whistleblowers’ actions are invaluable.
He added that whistleblowing as a process always occurred in highly moral people who loved the environment they lived and worked in.
Mark Worth, director of the European Centre for Whistleblower Rights, said it was unfortunate to see the whistleblowers’ contribution in societies like Macedonian, and how badly it repaid them by abolishing their fundamental rights and freedoms. He added that the new motto of whistleblowing is: say it, but do not become a whistleblower. This is because not all people have the character to deal with the dire consequences of government. However, the information from these people is very important. He added that we should build a system in which no one would know that the whistleblower’s information was revealed by him. That is why maximum protection of these people is needed.
Our Gjorgji Lazarevski also participated in the same session and he thinks that we have legislation that is far from ideal. He stressed that he could not tell people to be silent, because he knew for himself how toxic that silence could be for oneself. Finally, he ended with the sentence that life spent in fear was not life, so one should go out and say, point or whistle, if we literally translate it from English.
The State Commission for Prevention of Corruption was elected for the first time in a new way and it immediately bore fruit. Members who really fight corruption have been elected. It has been recognized by whistleblowers and that is why since the beginning of the year more than 40 whistleblowers have been reported, but this number, according to Irena Popovska, Secretary General of the SCPC, is insufficient with a country that has such corruption.
