Rwandan Minister of Information and Government Spokesperson Louise Mushikiwabo has said she supports the inclusion of criminal defamation in the new media law.

The criminal defamation in the new law includes such arbitrary clauses that punish journalists for “publications which endanger public decency.”

Mushikiwabo held a meeting in September with Tom Rhodes, the Africa Program Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). But the minister told CPJ that any article that proves problematic can be amended in the future. President Paul Kagame had sent the Bill back to parliament in May after listening to some concerns of local media groups. The Bill has since been passed by both chambers of the Rwandan Parliament and President Kagame has reportedly signed it into law. ET has also reliably learnt from the Prime Minister’s office that it was last month published in the national gazette “I am convinced the new legislation will help professionalize our media - there were many holes in the former law,” Mushikiwabo told CPJ.

Some, however, do not share her enthusiasm. As former Rwanda University lecturer Charles Kambanda points out, the law requires journalists to reveal their sources in court for any criminal investigation. “The principle of nondisclosure of sources in this field is a core professional ethic. If we oblige this profession to disclose the sources, then we are actually closing the profession,” he said in a BBC interview run in the last issue of ET.

One way the minister sees the law improving the profession is through its education requirements for journalists. Rwanda has two institutions for journalism, including the two-year-old Great Lakes Media Center in Kigali, which offers certificates in journalism. “I visited the center and some of the students told me they now have the skills to tackle us,” she says, “That’s fine by me. It’s OK to be anti-government, but be professional,” the minister said.

She said she is pleased with radio stations in the country, but noted that Rwanda still has “excessive” and unprofessional local newspapers. A leading private paper, Umuseso, currently faces a potential three-month suspension ordered by the country’s Media High Council.
The suspension order comes from a July opinion article in Umuseso that compared Kagame with former President Juvenaal Habyarimana, whose 1994 assassination helped trigger the genocide. Mushikiwabo said she cannot fathom the comparison: “One man started the genocide, while the other ended it.”

Umuseso acting Managing Director Didas Gasana, however, defends the article as an opinion piece that compared two governance systems, not personalities. Gasana said the suspension was the result of a June 27 press conference in which Mushikiwabo announced that “the days of Umuseso are numbered.” Prior to the new law, however, the minister would have made the final decision to suspend the paper - the media law now places such power in the hands of the Media High Council.

 The council is perceived to be controlled by the government. According to a 2007 survey by the International Research and Exchanges Board in Washington, USA, most Rwandan journalists viewed the council as partisan.