Editor,

RE: "Consider whistle-blowing in the fight against graft” (The New Times, December 7).

I fully agree with the importance of whistleblower protection in fighting graft and all other kinds of corruption. In many cases, graft and cases of other forms of corrupt behaviour can only be uncovered because of denunciation by a disaffected participant or an insider who finds such corruption to violate their fundamental values of morality or who refuse to be party to behaviour that deviate from their sense of what is right and honourable.

However, even when we fight corruption, we must be absolutely careful to avoid irreversible injury to the innocent who might be denounced by enemies, or adversaries on the basis of petty or not so petty conflicts and who might exploit the anonymity often granted to "whistleblowers” to settle personal accounts.

In other words, the road to hell is as usual often paved with the best of intentions. Provisions put in place to fight corruption can be misused by dishonest individuals to serve personal and corrupt ends.

Mwene Kalinda