From snitches to riches. A whopping Sh36 billion award money was paid out last week by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to a whistle-blower whose information helped its enforcement action - more than double (Sh13 billion) it paid out in 2020. Who would imagine “ratting” could be big business?
Our maximum payout (capped) at Sh5 million shillings by the capital markets authority compares miserably. It’s peanuts. If we seriously need a thriving snitching culture, that figure has to be “juiced-up”.
Here’s why.
Remember Uncle Bernie’s con? Harry Markopolos, the celebrated whistleblower who outed his scam, had to endure years of being ignored by everybody.
He was dismissed several times whenever he raised the alarm about Madoff’s Sh5 trillion ponzi scheme. From politicians to the regulator, journalists, et al, no one bothered to listen.
But after the scam imploded at the end of 2008, leaving thousands of charities, investment funds and pensioners bereft of billions of dollars, he was vindicated.
He’s now a hero but at that time, facing the giant, he risked losing his career (even his life) and soiling his reputation. Why would anyone go through this hell only for Sh5 million?
Even claiming the award is for do-gooders only, remember, historically, many whistleblowers are never quite welcomed back into the job market.
The world has little patience for ethical activism. This is why this bounty needs to be upped.
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