The New Times and Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza: A nasty character assassination ploy
By Chris Nzabandora
Kigali, January 29, 2010
Ever since Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza set foot in Rwanda on January 16th, 2010, the Rwandan daily newspaper, the New Times, spared no efforts in tarnishing her image.
Indeed, after a crude distortion of her statement at the Gisozi Genocide Memorial, and calls for her arrests and subsequent hate editorials, the newspaper has come out without a new charge of family criminal records, in its issue of January 28th, 2010.
The content of this article betrays the true agenda of the paper and denotes a total disregard of the respect of individual privacy.
The loose narration of the so-called Gacaca trial of Mrs. Ingabire's mother in Butamwa is an eye opener on the professional standard of to paper. For the sake of the truth, to the best of my knowledge, Mrs. Ingabire's mother is not a fugitive and has nothing to do with the wild allegations levelled against her by the paper. Mrs. Ingabire's mother has never been summoned to any hearing of the Gacaca courts and is ready to clean her name.
The newspaper tries, out of cheap propaganda, to imply that genocide ideology is a family rooted crime to which every member has to answer. In a nutshell, the newspaper tries to bring the people into believing that Mrs. Ingabire is guilty, because her mother was tried and sentenced by a Gacaca court. By extension, Mrs. Ingabire would not be clean of any wrong doing in the genocide and is thereby not fit for presidential race. This is the sinister agenda of the paper, for a newspaper whose stated mission is "becoming an exemplary and constructive media house".
The statement of Mrs. Ingabire on Gacaca courts reflects UDF-Inkingi party's position, not her own feelings. As for the so-called "clean bill of health given to the Gacaca by renown scholars", I refer to the latest United Nations Human Rights commission, Human Rights Watch, Lawyrers Without Borders and even the Commonwealth Human Rights Committee's statements, but to mention a few.
In a healthy democracy, discussion should be focussed on issues, not individuals. Mrs. Ingabire is in Rwanda to defend a program, not to promote her own interests. But once for all, let's address the recurrent issues that the paper surfs on.
The so-called substantial evidence gathered by the United Nations Group of Experts about the collaboration between FDLR and Mrs. Ingabire is nothing but hearsays. Even neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi government issued strong worded statements describing that report as lacking in many areas. The party extensively dwelt with that report in a press release. The "experts" based their allegations on a meeting that took place in Barcelona and to which FDLR was invited. The meeting indeed took place. It was organised in the framework of Inter-Rwandan dialogue which brings together Rwandans of different shades and ethnic groups for that matter. The paper omits deliberately to mention that the meeting was attended also by a delegation from Rwanda , including well known ruling party RPF' members whose names can be availed if necessary. Is that the "substantial evidence" that the paper holds?
The report states that Mrs. Ingabire is a sister to the military leader of FDLR . This is absolutely rubbish. Mrs. Ingabire has no family relationship at all with him.
The paper also talks about RDR roots of Mrs. Ingabire. Mrs. Ingabire is the president of UDF/FDU-Inkingi, to which RDR is a party. RDR is not a criminal organisation as insinuated by the paper. RDR is an opposition party. Holding divergent opinions in a democratic society is not criminal. RDR has its own leadership. Should the paper have a case with the RDR, it should address itself to its leadership, not to Mrs. Ingabire as a person, as she is in Rwanda in her capacity as Chairperson of UDF-Inkingi, not RDR.
Last but not least, the paper may not agree with Mrs. Ingabire on different issues. But Mrs. Ingabire is far from being "controversial" . She is a flag bearer of a party's program which may hurt newspapers bent on courting the establishment.
The New times newspaper is doing a disservice to democracy and reconciliation, by attempting to silence a dissenting at a very time when the country wants to show to the world in general, and the Commonwealth and East Africa in particular, that it is fit to be a full member of these honourable bodies and their cherished values.
Note:
Chris Nzabandora is UDF-Inkingi party member.
Related Materials:
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza: I am back home
Video: Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza at the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Site in Kigali
WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IN 1994 THERE HAS BEEN EFFECTIVELY A GENOCIDE IN RWANDA
CYNICAL MEDIA LYNCHING AND CALLS FOR ARRESTING IN RWANDA
Rwanda: Hidden Agenda Behind False Allegations by The New Times
Rwanda: A False Reconciliation
Rwanda has not healed: "Tribalism, state sponsored abuses continue"
A Seething Below Rwanda's Surface: God Sleeps in Rwanda
Defamation threat against The New Times daily Newspaper
Sole daily owned by ruling party embroiled in partisan politics
By Expression Today
March 2010
Rwanda’s first and only daily, The New Times, has for the first time come under threat of defamation charges as it got embroiled in a political war of words with opposition politicians who accuse it of biased reporting.
The family of the late Emmanuel Akingeneye has threatened to sue the ruling party mouth piece for defaming their deceased relative for continuously trying to create a genocide link to the opposition leader Victoire Ingabire who is expected to tussle it out with President Paul Kagame in the upcoming presidential polls.
Akingeneye was the personal physician of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana who perished in the 1994 plane crash while returning form peace talks in Tanzania.
The family of Akingeneye claims the paper defamed the deceased when in a commentary published in on January 28, 2010, claiming that Therese Dusabe, the mother of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza was Akingeneye’s concubine.
According to The New Times, a traditional (Gacaca) court of Butamwa sentenced Therese Dusabe in absentia to life imprisonment for her role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
The commentary titled “Ms Ingabire Victoire, an ardent advocate for racial politics, now resorts to the victimization card,” by a senior Rwanda Patriotic Front cadre in The New Times using the pseudo name of Felix Muheto intended to give a background of who Ingabire was.
The article said Akingeneye fathered Ingabire’s young sister, Regine Uwineza.
According to reports, Akingeneye’s daughter, also family lawyer, distanced the family from Ingabire saying a lawyer was traveling to Rwanda early February to sue The New Times for allegedly defaming their deceased father.
“This is a totally false story. Our family has no relation whatsoever with Ingabire and we don’t know her. The story was only intended to tarnish the reputation of the family. That’s why we want the author to provide evidence in court to support his allegations,” said Akingeneye’s daughter who is based in Brussels, Belgium.
It would be the first time, the ruling party’s mouth piece will be facing a defamation court case of any nature. The case is expected to raise heat with the powers in the country behind the newspaper.
While the Akingeneye family lawyer demands that the author of the article in question, Felix Muheto, give evidence to the said family relations, little do they know that Muheto is a pseudonym used in sensitive and controversial writings in defence of the government. Sources allege that Muheto is a top dog at The New Times who also used other names like Ngango Rukara or Rutigita Miheto. What is common between the pseudonyms in the writings is the consistency in the writing style and diction.
Court will therefore have work to do to get Muheto stand trial since it is generally believed that such names like Felix Muheto, Ngango Rukara or Rutigitamashumu are used by party big shots to publish political articles in the interest of the party.
Heat
Ingabire’s return to Rwanda on January 16 sparked off a political storm especially with the New Times where a war of words has raged.
While the New Times tries to push the ruling party’s desire to silence any opposition or any critical commentary from any media, analysts believe it has gone an extra mile to personalize politics making active opposition politicians appear as “deniers of the 1994 genocide.”
The New Times has also landed in another battle of words with Victoire Ingabire’s Unified Democratic Forces (UDF) Inkingi. Hostile letters have been flying.
In an undated letter a copy of which the ET saw, one of the party members, Chris Nzabandora, attacked the paper for ‘a nasty character assassination ploy’ on its presidential candidate.
The letter says the paper had a crude distortion of Ingabire’s statement at the Gisozi genocide Memorial on January 16, it had called for her arrest, and has subsequently resorted to hate editorials that implicate Ingabire in family criminal activities.
Nzabandora goes on to defend Ingabire’s mother as someone who has never been sentenced by any Gacaca court as alleged by the newspaper which he accuses of “cheap propaganda, to imply that genocide ideology is a family rooted crime to which every member has to answer”. He argues that Ingabire is in Rwanda to express the party’s views and not family or personal feelings.
In his response dated January 22, the managing director and chief executive of The New Times, Mr Joseph Bideri, told Ms Ingabire that all the editorials and commentaries referred to in the FDU letter were from statements made by the party and were on record.
“As a national publication that continues to play a critical role in the development of the country, our editorial line does not allow space to individuals or organizations with revisionist views and genocide deniers. It is the kind of rhetoric you have continued to articulate since your arrival in the country and we cannot give a platform to spread it,” the letter says in part.
More fireworks are expected as the political temperatures rise in the run up to the August presidential polls. The pressure for professionalism on The New Times is certain to erode to the real owners, who have remained confidential.
Related Materials:
The New Times and Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza: A nasty character assassination ploy
Habyarimana Doctor’s Family to Sue Rwanda’s The New Times for Defamation
The “Messiah” who is putting Kagame to the test
By Expression Today
28.06.10
She remains determined and hopeful in her dream to become Rwanda’s next president and possibly the first-ever female head of state in the volatile Great Lakes Region of Africa. But if hope is her charisma, she must know by now the road to this feat is potentially very rough.
Victoire Ingabire, 42, is the chairperson of the yet to be registered Unified Democratic Forces (UDF), a coalition of Rwandan opposition parties with members in Rwanda and abroad. She returned to Rwanda only last month, after 16 years of exile in the Netherlands, to register her party and get ready for the August presidential elections.
She has since proved a constant pickle to spin doctors in Kigali who have been running a series of hate stories against her and the party she represents, in a manner, only reminiscent of the hate media days that characterised the country prior to the genocide (see threat to sue).
The government leaning and sole English daily in the country, The New Times, has consistently run very critical commentaries about her, some so nasty and badly written the authors’ names had to be concealed according to inside sources at the paper.
But while this is probably what Ingabire will have been told to expect the day she made the decision to go back to Rwanda and prepare to contest for the top seat in the land, events from the last couple of weeks after her arrival have left many wondering whether the country’s media industry may have learnt anything from its distasteful past.
One would think that having witnessed the awful manner in which publications like Kangura and radio stations like RTLM were used in pre-genocide times to spread hatred among Rwandans, media practitioners in today’s Rwanda would be the last to resort to hate campaigns and dehumanisation. Not so says one Felix Muheto.
In an editorial that appeared in January 21 of The New Times, one Felix Muheto, who it has to be noted is a pseudo name for a leading Kigali spin doctor, imperially questioned Ingabire’s credentials as a presidential candidate in a manner that casts doubt as to whether journalism in Rwanda has changed for better or worse post genocide.
“Mrs. Victoire Ingabire, in her Parmehutu nostalgic mind thought it wise to start her ill-fated struggle for the country’s highest office by seeking her ideological ancestors’ blessing for another revolution.
“Well! Is she the messiah who is going to cleanse them of their confessed sins for participating in genocide while planning to involve them into another?” he wrote.
Muheto’s stinging allegations were even considered so important that The New Times, which maintains is an exemplary and constructive media house, published his opinion as an editorial.
Patrick Bigabo, a journalist and former employee of The New Times who currently is in private business, says it is not a failure to learn from the past but a concerted desire to hustle free speech.
“It has nothing to do with preserving what we have achieved over the years. Truth is, Kigali has been caught pants down. Ingabire is viewed as a threat and so to counter her resurgence, the only tool is to attack. They will go to any level to make it extremely difficult for her,” he says.
And go for her they have. Immediately after arriving in Rwanda on January 16, Ingabire headed to the genocide memorial at Gisozi on the outskirts of the capital Kigali where she delivered a speech. The government says her speech aimed at evoking arguments of a double genocide, Ingabire’s camp maintains her speech was honest and aimed at challenging critical thinking and looking at Rwanda’s history “objectively”.
Whatever the case, Ingabire’s arrival and subsequent speeches in Rwanda appear to be making Kagame’s government run scared. Otherwise why would Muheto and the lot find themselves pre-occupied with criticising and literally demonising a lady who many agree stands no chance of winning the August election?
There is little chance her party will get registered. Her mother has already been accused of playing a role in the 1994 genocide and was sentenced in absentia by the Gacaca court of Butamwa. Even Ingabire’s camp is aware the government is trying to use this against their presidential hopeful.
A recent communiqué from a party member, Chris Nzabandora noted: “In a healthy democracy, discussion should be focused on issues not individuals. Ms. Ingabire is in Rwanda to defend a program not her own personal interest. The New Times is trying out cheap propaganda to imply that genocide ideology is a family rooted crime, to which every family member is answerable. This is not true.”
Ingabire Attacked
That a presidential hopeful was attacked by youths and his aide beaten up so severely to the extent he had to be rushed to hospital calls into question whether the government is ready and willing to provide security to aspirants. There is rumour too that the attack was an inside job by some elements within the establishment keen at sending Ingabire a message that she either gives up or prepares to face similar or even worse incidents. This argument is corroborated by the inconsistencies in the reports of events as told to different media outlets by Police spokesman Supt Eric Kayiranga.
While he told Reuters that Ingabire was beaten up by youth angry at her politics, he told Africa Confidential on phone that the five men police being held by police over the matter confessed they wanted to steal her bag and had nothing to do with Ingabire as a politician.
But speaking to Reuters, Gregory Mthembu Salter, a research associate at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said the attack may reflect a need for Rwanda to uphold freedom of speech better.
Rwanda has often been criticized for its continued limits on freedom of speech, press freedom and rule of law, which the government vehemently denies. The coming presidential election will be a stern test to the establishment in Kigali.
