The author, Steven Baguma, is a Rwandan journalist currently participating in a six-month Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship at the St. Louis Dispatch. He wrote this article for the exclusive use of the Committee of Concerned Journalists.

The Rwandan Government recently sanctioned closure of the newly launched English weekly, The Weekly Post just after its first edition. At the time this article was written, no reason had been given for the infamous decision.

Rwanda's Minister of Information Prof. Laurent Nkusi, who had officially authorized the paper to publish, reneged on the decision and revoked The Weekly Post's publication license barely 48 hours after the paper's first edition hit Kigali streets.

In a letter addressed to The Weekly Post on June 6, Nkusi said, “After circumspect investigations of the information you had provided when you applied for the registration of an English newspaper, ‘The Weekly Post’, of the Rwanda Media Holdings Limited Company, I regret to inform you that the acknowledgment receipt No. 789/03.10 of 15 May 2007, which allowed you to publish the aforesaid newspaper, is from today, 6 June 2007, canceled.”

“He has given no reason for wiping out our investment of time, money and devotion or breaching the human right to a free press,” Eleneus Akanga, the managing editor of The Weekly Post said in a June 20 press release.

Rwandan media law stipulates that whoever wishes to start a newspaper must provide a notification letter showing: their editorial policy, the initial capital, newspaper format, language of publication, company statute, project proposal, and proof that the Editor in Chief of the paper has never been imprisoned and convicted of any crime. Akanga and associates, all veteran journalists, provided all of the required items.

“Our company, Rwanda Media Holdings, is registered and we fully complied with the law. If the government has any case against us, it should come clean and we are ready for anything,” read the Post’s press release.

“We request that the Minister break this silence and explain the legal basis for our ban or we shall construe this continued silence as testament that our license still stands,” the press release read in part.

The Weekly Post staff has since petitioned the Minister, the High Council of the Press (HCP), and the Rwanda Association of Journalists for justifications and a fair hearing, so far in vain.

They are demanding reasons for this “unjust” decision. On June 13, Minister Nkusi had promised to issue a statement regarding The Weekly Post, but that statement has yet to be received.

Akanga and his associates were all recently fired, some argue unfairly, by Ignatius Kabagambe, now the managing director and editor in chief of The New Times, the country's only English-language daily. The paper is owned by “big-shots” in the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), the country’s current ruling party.

These days Kabagambe seems to hire and fire staff at will. In the two months the author has been in the U.S., Kabagambe has used his connections in government to fire several reporters and editors, and has prompted resignations due to his gross mismanagement of the paper.

It's against this background, and in a bid to carry on with their careers in journalism as well as to earn a living, that Akanga and other media professionals pooled resources to start The Weekly Post, which the government has now banned for no apparent reason.

Some folks at the Post allege that Kabagambe and his well connected bosses are behind the move – an allegation that if true illustrates how governments and politicians in most African countries continue to hamper press freedom. The reason is simple and clear; fear of competition and criticism.

A presidential action long overdue

Kabagambe is one of many influential Rwandans bull-dozing the media at the moment, but at times such figures pay the price for their unpopular actions.

Recently I received good news from home: I was told that Joseph Bideri, the man who had for years misled Rwanda's media was finally fired as director of the Rwanda Office of Information (ORINFOR), the government information agency.

Last year ORINFOR, which runs the national radio and television networks as well as La Nouvelle Releve and Imvaho Nshya (French and Kinyarwanda weeklies, respectively), announced the layoff of more than 150 employees.

Immediately after learning of this “tsunami,” as the move was popularly billed, my editor at The New Times assigned me to the big story. I hastily picked up my phone and raised ORINFOR’s director, Mr. Bideri, for confirmation. I’d also hoped to contact some of the employees who’d been laid off and have the story run the next day.

Bideri's response, however, was not only discouraging but an indication that journalists in Rwanda are often taken for granted.

He said, “Why do you want to write about ORINFOR? Retrenchments have been going on in all government institutions…consider not pursuing the story.” He then called my editor and that was the end of the story.

Bideri was right – retrenchments in the name of reforms were sweeping through many government offices and The New Times did the noble thing and kept the general public posted of all the latest moves, except for the ones at ORINFOR. Was the story too sensitive? Suppose we did pursue and published the story – was Rwanda's reputation at stake? I view not running the story as a disservice to the public.

This was not the first time Bideri used, or rather “misused,” the powers entrusted to him to undermine the ideals of freedom of the press in Rwanda.

It's on record that Mr. Bideri, who happens to sit on the The New Times' board of directors, during the opening of a February 2006 government retreat (an annual event where the president, his cabinet and all government, military and police officials discuss issues and the government’s agenda for a week) inadvertently allowed journalists to attend the heated opening ceremony in which President Kagame lashed at and lambasted cabinet ministers and top officials for laxity in dealing with donors.

Among the officials and ministers attacked in that particular session were the Director General of Rwanda Investments and Exports Promotions (RIEPA), Williams Nkurunziza, and the then-Minister of Education Prof. Romain Murenzi, who had, according to Kagame, acted arrogantly while dealing with donors and failed to streamline policies that would help the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) produce many badly needed engineers.

After the President's opening remarks, Bideri gathered the assembled Radio Rwanda and Rwanda Television journalists and warned them not to broadcast anything about Kagame’s remarks. However, a New Times reporter rushed back to Kigali with the hot and factual story.

Bideri called to warn then-managing director and editor in chief Edward Rwema not to authorize the publication of the story. Despite all of Bideri’s warnings, the story ran on the front page of The New Times the following day, and a few days later Rwema was shown the exit.

Bideri has been replaced by the President's speech writer, Oscar Kimanuka. Hopefully Kimanuka will overhaul the government information office and be cooperative to the media.

Given Bideri’s ineffectiveness at ORINFOR and complaints from journalists and media managers over Bideri's incompetence and abuse of office at the expense of the media, President Kagame could not help but act to relieve the media of this tyrant. Thanks Mr.President.

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