Reality or Rhetoric: Whistleblowing in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Research has widely demonstrated that whistleblowing is an important tool in fighting corruption. Likewise, a growing literature looks at reinforcement of the whistleblowing policy through the legal protection of whistleblowers. However, the effects of some socio-political and cultural factors on whistleblowing have been overlooked, particularly from the global South perspective. Hence, this ethnographic study conducted among public servants of the Congolese labor market institutions will fill that gap.
This study draws from Rotberg’s notion of failure of nation-state which postulates that failed states exhibit flawed institutions. In addition, it also expends Peck’s theory of locally regulated labor market, in the context of failed-nation state whereby anomic behaviors become the norm, the implementation of whistleblowing appears un utopian.
Hence, despite the creation of Congolese post-war of anti-corruption agencies, which legally encourage and protect whistleblowers, this study notices that public servants of the Congolese labor market institutions do not denounce corrupted activities in their institutions. So, why don’t they reveal these flourished practices of corruption? This study has found four main reasons below. First, in a country marked by the long-lasting practices of kleptocracy, fraud, patronage, bribery, embezzlement, the meaning attributed to corruption appears as a commonsense in the Congolese public administration. Therefore, whistleblowing culturally seems unfamiliar for some Congolese public employees. Second, the well-known high level of impunity engineered by Congolese ruling elites gives less room to people to disclose some cases of corruption. Third, many Congolese have ceased trusting state as it has continuously failed to deliver. Finally, the fear of countless repercussions (such as loss of jobs, assassinates, intimidations, etc.) leads some Congolese public employees maintain radio silence.