By David Himbara
The Kenyan newspaper The Standard has removed from its website a disgusting and fake article titled ”Museveni speaks to Himbara on phone, encourages campaign against Rwanda.” The fake article was published in the Standard of July 23, 2018, proclaiming the biggest lies ever as follows:
”Whilst Uganda has been encouraging campaigns against Rwanda, it has been established that the Ugandan Head of State Yoweri Museveni speaks directly on phone with self-exiled Rwandan dissident David Himbara…Himbara and the groups he works with have only one objective — which is to fight the current Rwandan administration with any means possibl…in the hope that this will lead them to take power in Kigali.”
Why did The Standard publish and remove this trash from its website? I always thought that the Standardwas a decent and responsible newspaper. It is true that newspapers cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. In this case, the Standard published naked lies without attempting to corroborate basic information. The Standard broke another basic rule of good journalism — most stories have at least two sides. While it may not always possible to present every side in every piece, stories should be balanced and impartial.
A day before the Standard published and deleted its fake news, another Kenyan newspaper sang praises of the Rwandan President Paul Kagame. On July 22, 2018, The Daily Nation’s Deputy News Editor, Julius Sigei, described how Kagame has transformed Rwanda into a tourism and investment hub. According to Sigei, Kagame’s Rwanda is ”putting to shame the larger African economies that have enjoyed relative peace and prosperity since independence.” This writing had no verifiable facts, whatsoever, designed to impress.
Why are Kenyan newspapers suddenly singing praises to Kagame while destroying reputations of what the Rwandan president terms ”enemies”?
Dear Kenyan newspapers — Standard and Daily Nation — wake up. Don’t be used by the Kagame propaganda machine. Why are you doing this? How can reputable newspapers allow themselves to become vehicles of fake news? These Kagame stories that are false. These pro-Kagame stories are clearly fabricated, with no verifiable facts, whatsoever, designed to assassinate other people’s characters. Shame on the Standard and the Daily Nation.