Report: Civil servants living in fear

Civil servants, both Caymanian and non-Caymanian, routinely do not report blatant wrongdoing in the government service because they believe they – not the wrongdoers – will be punished.  

That’s the conclusion of a report issued Thursday by Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams, who advocated for entirely new legislation with the sole purpose of protecting whistleblowers.  

Though some forms of whistleblower protections are contained in sections of the Freedom of Information Law and in the recently enacted Standards in Public Life Law, to the commissioner’s knowledge, neither section has ever been used.  

Ms. Williams said in the report: “The Office of the Complaints Commissioner is firmly of the view that people should not have to trawl through legislation to cherry-pick sections of applicable legislation.  

“It is clear that the Cayman Islands has little or no legislative protection for whistleblowers.”  

She said the investigation of former Minister of Tourism, Environment, Investment and Commerce Charles Clifford was the starting point for the report, adding that although nothing had been done since the issue in 2008, she was optimistic about the report’s recommendations.  

“We make recommendations not to have them sitting and gathering dust on the shelf. We will keep pushing until the recommendations are substantially complied.” 

Civil servants who spoke to the commissioner on condition of anonymity painted a shocking picture of what occurs in day-to-day operations of the government service. Ms. Williams said her office carefully selected complaints from civil servants who had legitimate issues rather than those who were seeking to settle personal scores. 

Ms. Williams, who could not reveal the number of people interviewed, said she was surprised by the level of reluctance expressed by those who came forward. She interviewed each civil servant personally and allowed them to communicate with her through a personal email address, not on the government’s system. 

“Despite guarantees of anonymity, some who were prepared to give me a verbal account of their experiences would not consent for it to be used in the report under any circumstances as they were afraid of reprisals, both professionally and personally,” Ms. Willliams said. 

“When a written interview was conducted, the accounts were anonymized and identifying details removed.” 

Of the civil servants interviewed for the investigation, 40 percent had reported financial mismanagement, with the vast majority of those reporting their concerns to the “most senior levels of the civil and public service.”  

Another 40 percent had reported instances of favoritism and “unjustified preferential treatment” of some staff members over others. 

Unnamed civil servants told the complaints commissioner’s office that petty personal torments were often used against individuals who raised issues about departmental malfeasance.  

“Examples were given of some civil servants only being allowed to take their [vacation] leave at the rate of one day per month, as a form of punishment for reporting wrongdoing,” the report noted. “Confidential and personal information has also been leaked by way of retaliation.”  

If an employee is a non-Caymanian on a fixed-term contract, their contracts were simply not renewed, according to one individual, identified in the report as CS-1. If they are Caymanian, superiors “make working conditions miserable,” forcing them to leave.  

“This demonstrates that any employee can be victimized, regardless of their status on the island,” Ms. Williams said. 

Another civil servant, identified as CS-2, said a number of workers in one unit had filed a complaint against their former boss, the results of which were: one demotion, three post “regrades,” and one complainant being ignored entirely by management. 

A former chairman of the Civil Service Appeals Commission, who also refused to give their name, noted that civil service managers had “all sorts of ways of getting at a person” who reported wrongdoing.  

“Because Cayman is a small jurisdiction, if you report wrongdoing and your name became known, there is the chance of being blacklisted and your prospect of employment may not be good – either in retaining your current position or in finding another position,” the former appeals commission chairman said.  

Managers seemingly not aware 

Despite rampant reporting of retaliation against whistleblowers in the government, Ms. Williams said senior-level managers seemed not to be aware of it in many cases.  

Gloria McField-Nixon, chief officer of the Portfolio of the Civil Service, was interviewed for the complaints commissioner’s report. She is essentially the head of human resources for the civil service.  

“According to Mrs. McField-Nixon, there were surprisingly no instances of reprisals or victimization for whistleblowing that she was aware of,” Ms. Williams wrote. “Present and former heads of the civil service broadly agreed with this view. 

“However, this is in direct contrast, both to those persons interviewed in this section of this report … and those interviewed who claim to have been victimized for reporting wrongdoing.”  

Two former holders of the chief secretary/deputy governor’s post were also interviewed for the report. Former Chief Secretary George McCarthy denied “willful blindness” on his part about reporting wrongdoing. In Mr. McCarthy’s opinion, there were some sections of the civil servant code of conduct that would support whistleblowers.  

Former Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks told the Office of the Complaints Commissioner that he could recall only one case of wrongdoing brought to his attention that was never formally reported. Mr. Ebanks accepted that some civil servants may have felt they would not be supported if they “blew the whistle.”  

“This contrasts with accounts from other civil servants [both current and former] interviewed for this report,” Ms. Williams said in the 64-page evaluation titled “Let the whistle blow.” 

Current Deputy Governor Franz Manderson told the complaints commissioner that he personally had been made aware of instances of public servants’ wrongdoing, including use of government vehicles for personal matters and abuse of sick leave. No one had been dismissed over such activities, he said.  

Mr. Manderson said he had never actively or passively supported victimization of civil service whistleblowers.  

Even the Cayman Islands Civil Service Association, which represents civil service workers, was reluctant to report certain issues to the complaints commissioner, although the association did cooperate in the investigation.  

“The reasons for this are best known to them, but from OCC research and interviews, it is not due to any lack of civil servants actually victimized,” Ms. Williams said.  

Recommendations 

Ms. Williams recommended that Cayman enact “stand alone” legislation to deal only with whistleblower processes and protections, similar to what exists in Jamaica, Australia and New Zealand. She also noted that a “positive duty to report” – similar to what exists in the Cayman Islands Anti-Corruption Laws – should be placed in the whistleblower legislation.  

The complaints commissioner said that a “change in the culture” of the civil service must be made regarding reporting of wrongdoing so that it would looked upon as a positive step. Hand-in-hand with this change, Ms. Williams said, must be the belief that the perpetrators will be punished and not the whistleblowers.  

Third, any legislation enacted must ensure confidentiality for whistleblowers. The complaints commissioner also suggested a
confidential “hotline” for reporting wrongdoing, similar to the Cayman Crime Stoppers toll-free number, be set up. 

Finally, the complaints commissioner asked government to consider creating a portfolio of Public Service and Integrity – similar to that in Australia.