Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica’s premier government financial irregularities watchdog entity, the Auditor General’s Department (AuGD), is seeing an active number of whistleblower complaints coming in, thereby aiding checks and balances within government. 

Whistleblower complaints have become the major avenue utilised by the public for reporting allegations of fraud, misappropriation of funds allocated to Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), and the failure by these entities to comply with the Government of Jamaica’s laws, policies, and procedures. 

 A whistleblower is an insider (often an employee) who reports illegal, unethical, or dangerous activities within a private or public organisation, such as fraud, waste, abuse, or threats to public health to an authority like government agencies, law enforcement, or the media with legal protections often in place to prevent retaliation, though they frequently face risks like job loss. 

A total of 13 whistleblower complaints were received last year, relating to nine MDAs. In the last four years, a total of 50 whistleblower complaints were lodged with the AuDG, with 11 coming in 2023, involving nine MDAs; a similar number of complaints involving 10 entities in 2023 and 15 complaints involving 13 MDAs in 2024.

These complaints were submitted via the AuGD’s website, emails, formal letters, in-person visits and telephone.  In its just-released 2025 Annual Report, which was tabled in parliament on Tuesday, Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis confirmed that last year the AuGD received two complaints concerning the same entity under the Act, compared to five complaints in 2024. 

Additionally, one matter was referred to the AuGD in 2025 regarding a separate government entity. The procedural guidelines detailing the mechanisms for reporting improper conduct or occupational detriment by both AuGD employees and external parties are publicly available on the AuGD’s website. The mechanisms detail that all whistleblower complaints received were logged in the department’s confidential database. 

Where complaints related to a private sector entity, these were not considered for further assessment, and where a contact was provided, the complainant was advised to redirect the complaint to an appropriate entity. Public sector-related complaints were separated into two major groups: those that required action by an external agency and those to be addressed internally. 

Preliminary assessments were conducted and presented to the Auditor General to determine the appropriate actions to be taken.