THE month of April 2012 marks the 18th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide which was sparked off by ethnic tensions that had crept up in the former Belgian colony. The BBC estimates that about 800,000 citizens of the East African country, which became a part of German East Africa in 1890, were murdered by fellow countrymen.
“Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Most of the dead were Tutsis – and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus,” the BBC reports.
THOUGH there had been ethnic tensions in that country, no Rwandan or African prior to April 2012 had dreamt of its degeneration into genocide where a radio network would be used to do more harm than good to the land that had experienced segregation during the Belgian colonial rule.
RWANDAN media – specifically a radio station, Radio des Mille Collines (RTLM) – has been accused of inciting the hatred that led to violence by using an ethnic framework to report what was essentially a political struggle. They were also accused of spreading fear, rumour, and panic by using a kill-or-be-killed frame, and of relaying directives about the necessity of killing the Tutsi people as well as instructions on how to do it.
A Rwandan human rights activist lamented how “the political leaders, as well as all of us, have underestimated the force that RTLM represented . . . that was a lethal error.”
Several small publications, but principally the radio coverage of the single influential station,
Radio des Mille Collines, which was owned and under the control of supporters of a Hutu, President Habyarimana, have been cited as the lead network in this regard.
The question is can the same be said of the Ghanaian media in the run up to the 2012 elections?
THOUGH we may claim not to have made comments or publications similar or akin to what might have been published elsewhere which may have caused greater damage, certain publications far outweigh the publications of the time. A discerning listener to some radio stations which Today prefers to name and shame always have the feeling that Ghana is on the verge of a genocide.
SERIOUS comments have been made on Radio Gold over the last years, and it would have done Ghana lot of good if we had taken time to condemn them. This particular radio station and its counterpart in notoriety, Oman FM, are fast becoming breeding grounds for violent and hate speeches in the country.
WAS is it not on Radio Gold that a current deputy Information Minister was reported to have called on NDC members to amass arms and march to the Electoral Commission office to protest electoral results of 2008? And it is not comments of declaring war by Kennedy Agyepong on Oman FM that has led to the charges of treason, treason felony and attempted genocide being laid on his head?
LIKEWISE publications in certain ‘rented presses’ of the NPP and NDC have also published unpalatable statements.
SO the question is: For how long should we be told a pen is mightier than a sword and so we should be careful what we print, publish and broadcast lest we damage the peace with our borders?
WE, all of us, especially those of us who control and work in the media, should learn to be responsible and take ensure that peace continues to reign in our land, or Ghana will forever in future, remember 2012 and weep.
