COMMENT: Hate speech and media freedom

Whereas Amazing Grace FM has a right to protest against closure, it should apologise to those it offended

COMMENT | HERBERT LUGABA | I have been following developments surrounding the closure of Amazing Grace Radio for airing a sermon by a one Nicholas Niyibikora, which many considered insulting and derogatory to women.

In the sermon Niyibikora used Bible verses to denigrate women and incite the public into believing that women are evil. For those who use Whatsapp, the message spread like wildfire. In fact many joked that some men would not be going back to their wives after listening to the preacher.

On February 12, the media-self regulatory body, Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) listened to a complaint filed by Profemme Twese Hamwe, a league of women associations, on the sermon. I understand there were other complaints on the preacher who they said caused a lot of damage to society and endangered women.

After lengthy deliberations, the RMC slapped the radio station with a proposed three months suspension to allow it to reorganise the programming. This was after the owner of the radio station reportedly showed contempt and disrespect towards RMC

RMC requested Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authoriy (RURA) to effect the proposed suspension, which means that the regulator would also take time to conduct its own investigations and then decide whether to close the radio station or not.

RURA also asked the radio station and Niyibikora to apologise to Rwandans and women in particular to no avail.

Eventually on February 21, RURA announced that it had suspended Amazing Grace FM programming for one month and fined it Rwf2 million for broadcasting content which was in breach of its license.

The station was found to have failed to uphold national interest and national security. It was said to have violated national norms and values. It was found culpable of flouting national laws and regulations as well as license obligations.

Many Rwandans will agree that the sermon by Niyibikora was outrageous, inciting and dangerous in nature. It portrayed our mothers, daughters and sisters as the most despicable human beings who we should all watch out for.

When you listen to that sermon, you can easily tell that Niyibikora has the oratory skills needed to convince his listeners that whatever he says is true. His choice of language characterised by carefully chosen words, tone, and delivery are even more dangerous.

It goes without saying that the sermon did more damage which could take years to be undone. Today it is still circulating on social media. Any person in the right state of mind would be offended by the sermon.

However, what is more worrying is that throughout this process, Amazing Grace FM did not seem to understand the gravity of the sermon or simply chose to water it down. The management showed little remorse over the matter.

It is even more disturbing that the management of the radio failed to comply with orders issued by RURA, which included airing an apology by Niyibikora and suspending broadcasts for 30 days. The 30 days suspension was much more lenient than the three months RMC had suggested.

By refusing to comply with the orders of the regulator, it confirmed the fears that Amazing Grace FM did not understand the impact of the misogynous, divisive sermon. It is understood that RURA had to forcibly enforce the orders, amid resistance from the American owner of Amazing Grace FM; Gregory Schoof.

The owner issued statements threatening legal action against two institutions which clearly did not collude to instigate the sanctions. Each acted independently but had a similar outcome, albeit RURA’s coming off as less harsh.

While it is the right of the Amazing Grace management to feel aggrieved, it should also be understood that it cannot be a coincidence that two institutions would find the station guilty. What we should be looking into is the radio station choice to act in contempt of the law.

For those who understand Kinyarwanda, a few minutes of listening to the sermon are enough to figure out how dangerous it is. Surprisingly the radio station is yet to issue a reasonable apology or compel Niyibikora to apologise to Rwandans.

Our history teaches us that hate speech, if not acted upon, can eventually lead to something as unprecedented as genocide. The media played a big role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. We should not forget our history so quickly.

If we let the Niyibikoras of this world to use media platforms to air whatever messages they want and institutions let the likes of Amazing Grace provide similar platforms to such people, we might find ourselves in a position where it will be too late to retrieve ourselves.

RURA and RMC did the right thing, to rebuke the offenders. This should serve as a lesson to others. Much as we are striving for media freedoms, we cannot be complacent and lose the gains we have made over the last 23 years.

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The writer is a publisher, consultant and free thinker