The Great Lakes Check has investigated a purported communique allegedly originating from the office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda.
Amidst the strained relations between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in the wake of the renewed conflict between M23 rebels and the Congolese government forces (FARDC), numerous inaccuracies have surfaced in media reports regarding the conflict and the actions of both governments. These inaccuracies have proliferated across electronic, print, and social media platforms.
In today’s digital age, traditional media outlets, once the bastions of verified information, have ceded ground to social media platforms accessible to the majority worldwide. Unfortunately, many individuals unquestioningly accept information disseminated through these channels without due diligence.
The region is now inundated with a plethora of online publications, television channels, and radio stations, some of which are based in either country, while others operate from elsewhere. Regrettably, a portion of these outlets appear to serve as propaganda tools for one government or another, rather than adhering to the fundamental principles of journalism such as impartiality, truthfulness, independence, accuracy, and accountability.
Great Lakes Check, an organization dedicated to verifying the authenticity of news pieces in the region, focuses in this article on a ‘Communique’ attributed to the Government of Rwanda.
The purported communique alleges to have been authored by Prime Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente on behalf of the President of Rwanda on 25/07/2023. It was widely disseminated within social media groups of refugees in Uganda.
A cursory examination reveals numerous glaring errors in the document’s writing, grammar, sentence structure, and typos. These discrepancies alone serve as evidence of its fraudulent nature. Genuine government documents undergo rigorous scrutiny and proofreading by various officials before publication. This document, however, bears all the hallmarks of a fake, fabricated by an individual attempting to impersonate the Prime Minister of Rwanda and utilizing Rwanda government logos.
Both the Kinyarwanda and English versions of the document exhibit poor writing quality from beginning to end. Aside from the incorrect spellings, the sentences themselves are poorly constructed, rendering the document unequivocally counterfeit and falling short of the standards expected of any government.
Neither the governments of the DRC nor Rwanda have issued official statements regarding the matter. The lack of response from either government underscores the disregard with which they view this fraudulent piece of writing. Even the contents of the document are so amateurish that they defy credulity, suggesting it to be an inauthentic fabrication.
