Hopes of independent press in Rwanda fade

Rwanda’s progress towards a more liberal media environment has been short-lived.

In May Fred Muvunyi, the head of the Rwanda Media Commission, fled the country for fear of being detained or attacked, and the country’s telecommunications regulator suspended the operation agreement for the BBC’s Great Lakes radio service indefinitely.

Muvunyi’s decision to leave Rwanda is a worrying reversal in the country’s progress toward a free and independent press. He was elected chairman to the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) when the self-regulatory body was launched in 2013. Its creation heralded a positive move in Rwanda by removing state-control of the media. But when Muvunyi argued against the government’s calls to ban the BBC’s Kinyarwanda language radio service over a television documentary and a government proposal to transfer the RMC’s powers to a state-run body, he says he was threatened.

“I think the government never thought the RMC would become strong the way it is. They expected it to be an institution that they had full control of, they never thought I’d be elected by journalists,” Muvunyi told CPJ by phone from abroad.

Following the 1994 genocide and the role of hate radio in fueling ethnic violence, the Rwandan Patriotic Front government kept a tight grip on all media. In 2013, after almost two decades of state control, a new law re-regulated the media environment giving birth to the RMC-a self-regulatory body responsible for protecting journalists and implementing a code of conduct. The Media High Council relinquished its wide powers to suspend publications and prosecute journalists.