Rwandan gospel singer and songwriter Isreal Mbonyi through his social media handles called out content creators who spread false information for the sake of views following a false report by Faster TV show, a YouTube channel, on June 6, that he had died. Israel Mbonyicyambu, the singer told The New Times at the time the video came out, his phone was off and he had no idea what was really going on. He woke up yesterday morning to his younger brother and one of his colleagues who came to find out if what they saw was true since his phone was off. Upon seeing them he thought something was wrong had happened to his family, because that was unusual but he ended up getting a different story. He added that it was not the first time he was seeing such fake news about him, only this time around was different because nowadays people do believe a lot in what they see on social media. Shockingly, people had also started posting his picture with the caption Rest in Peace, and that was when he started taking it seriously, and communicate through social media that it was rumor. His advice towards his fans and people in general is that they don’t have to believe in everything they see on social media, adding that he has management that is in charge of communicating to the public in case anything happens. People’s view on this People should stop doing that. For the celebrities, not just Mbonyi, they have to keep their people updated in such situations.” Innocent Ndamukunda, a singer in gospel choir, Alarm Ministries, told The New Times that such false news has been around for so long, but people just ignored it. The extent of “killing alive people,” should however, be a wake-up call to related institutions to put more effort into such cases. “My advice to the owners behind such channels is that they should learn from their fellow YouTubers who report informative and constructive news and try to be productive,” he said. Florent Ndutiye, the Program Manager at BTV also added: “this is very disappointing and it is even giving a bad reputation to the media in general. If today someone can get up and choose to report such news for the sake of views instead of doing something which might be helpful to society, it is a shame and unprofessional. Immaculee Ingabire also reacted to this via her tweet saying “Am so sorry this not looking for views it is a crime.” What the law says about this Article 39 in the constitution about Publication of Rumors says any person who, knowingly and through a computer or a computer system, publishes rumors that may incite fear, insurrection, or violence amongst the population or that may make a person lose their credibility, commits an offence. And upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three years and no more than five years and a fine of not less than one million Rwandan francs and not more than three million Rwandan francs. Thierry Murangira, the Spokesperson of Rwanda Investigation Bureau, told this paper that “the publication rumours in 2020 included 14 cases while the 2021 cases till June,7 are eight so far, an impression that people are not aware that it is an offense to publish rumors that can cause someone lose their credibility.” “People are required to use social media platforms within the parameters set by law. This offence has serious punishment of 3-5 years of imprisonment, which cannot be despised,” he adds.
