Such an office has been established and forgotten
and revived too many times to count. Smaller variants
exist— Whistleblower Hotline, Consumer Complaint
Department, Ombudsman's Office, Ethics Committee.
It's a ministry because it's almost a vocation
to which you swear a vow: to transparency and
accountability, freedom of speech and of the press,
observation of due process, establishment of sanctions.
But it's growing a global network, staffed with
the compassionate and civic-minded. They are not
allowed to take bribes nor award ghost contracts
while looking the other way. They will visit families
whose dwellings have been swallowed by flood, and
document the absence of well-built dikes, dams,
and bridges despite billboards along the highway
lauding progressive infrastructure. They cause
warrants to be issued for officials and businessmen,
and demand scrutiny of financial records. After
following the money, it should become clear who
enabled and who signed off on, who claimed they were
only following orders while tucking millions into bank
accounts. They receive reports leaking secret
conversations about the launching of torpedos against
small sailing vessels. They gather in the hundreds,
blocking garages before illegal enforcement units
can get into their vehicles to make yet another raid
on ordinary civilians— the ones they've been ordered
to bring to private detention facilities whose earnings
rake in hundreds of millions a year. Sometimes they
are actual ministers: a pastor brandishing a bible
in the faces of those who dared to enter a church
with evil intent. Most times they peacefully organize
food and coat drives; they chant or play music,
hold up signs on the periphery of courthouses.
