Rwandan creative entrepreneur Steven Kayitare has rejected allegations that he is impersonating Moriox Kids, saying he is the original founder of the children’s dance group and that the dispute is instead rooted in a fallout between people who worked for him.

Kayitare spoke to The New Times days after

Jean Claude Shema and Blaise Shema, who claim to be Moriox Kids owners, accused him of using its name and identity without authorisation, approaching some of its children and parents, and allegedly receiving money from people who believed they were dealing with the group.

Previously, Shema and Shema told The New Times that Kayitare had created a social media account bearing a name similar to Moriox Kids, creating confusion among followers and partners. They also alleged that some people had paid money to Kayitare believing they were dealing with Moriox Kids.

Kayitare disputes those claims

He says the disagreement cannot be understood without looking at the history of Moriox Kids, arguing that he was not an outsider who later adopted the name, but was involved in the project from its early days.

His account is partly supported by earlier public reporting.

In April 2024, Armenian state news agency Armenpress interviewed Kayitare Sland Shema and explicitly described the two as the co-founders of Moriox Kids. During that interview, the two jointly explained the group’s mission, saying it sought to help children from disadvantaged families improve their lives through their talents, with education as a major priority.

Kayitare’s account of how Moriox Kids started

Kayitare, 32, started Moriox Media in 2019 as a media production company working on video and other creative projects.

Around 2021, he said, he developed the idea of working with talented children. He initially approached dancer Jojo Breezy about training children, but was referred to another dance group, through which he connected with Blaise Shema.

"The objective was to give children something productive to do after school and also expose their talents on the internet, because that is where their talents could reach a wider audience,” Kayitare said.

According to Kayitare, Shema initially joined the project as an employee under a written agreement.

He said their collaboration grew substantially, particularly in 2024 as Moriox Kids attracted audiences beyond Rwanda.

Kayitare said Jean Claude Shema was later brought into the organisation as they sought to restructure the initiative and work towards obtaining documentation for a non-governmental organisation.

He further claims that, following financial difficulties, he added Blaise and Jean Claude to the registration of the company and allocated them shares in 2025.

Armenia trip and the fallout

Kayitare said the disagreement escalated around the period of Moriox Kids’ international expansion.

The children travelled to Armenia in 2025, where they performed and took part in cultural activities. Armenia’s National Center of Folk Music and Dance confirmed that Moriox Kids visited the country and was scheduled to perform alongside the Armenian Song and Dance State Ensemble during a September 14 concert.

Kayitare said the group had at the time also been working towards establishing a foundation.

He claims he was serving as legal representative during that process, while Blaise was deputy chairman.

According to Kayitare, relations deteriorated shortly after the Armenia trip.

He alleges that, because he and Blaise Shema were among those with access to the group’s social media platforms, he later discovered that his login access had been removed and passwords changed.

"Because I was sharing a house with Shema Blaise, I woke up to find that he had changed the login credentials and left,” he told The New Times, saying the incident happened in 2025.

Kayitare claims the parties had earlier gone before a notary and documented assets they had acquired together, including social media platforms, under what he described as a 50-50 arrangement.

The alleged notarised agreement has not been independently reviewed for this story.

‘I was reported for impersonating something created’

Kayitare said the breakdown in the relationship eventually reached authorities.

He confirmed that complaints accusing him of impersonating Moriox Kids were taken to Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), but rejected the allegations.

According to him, the dispute arose after he established another social media presence following the split.

He also rejected accusations that he had deliberately solicited money by falsely presenting himself as the other group.

Kayitare claimed that, during discussions over the matter, an RIB official instead advised him that he could pursue his own complaint.

Dispute over the children

The two sides also give sharply different accounts of how some children moved from one group to the other.

Blaise and Jean Claude previously accused Kayitare of approaching parents with financial incentives and promises, including phones, travel opportunities and monthly payments.

They said this contributed to several children leaving their group.

Kayitare rejects that version.

He said that after the separation, most of the children initially remained with the other side, forcing him to begin working with a new group of children.

He nevertheless claims that four children who had left with the other group have since returned to work with him.

According to Kayitare, 23 children initially went with the other side and four have since returned.

The circumstances under which individual children moved between the groups have not been independently established.

Attempts at mediation

Kayitare also said there had been efforts to resolve the disagreement outside court.

He claims officials from the Ministry responsible for youth affairs became involved shortly before the Moriox Kids trip to Kyrgyzstan.

According to Kayitare, contacts related to the Kyrgyzstan trip initially reached him because some organisers still had his telephone number from earlier dealings with Moriox Kids.

He said he subsequently contacted Blaise and proposed that they meet and resolve the dispute because business and travel matters connected to Moriox Kids were still reaching him.

Kayitare claims the parties later met government officials and were advised to divide their interests while allowing the planned international trip to proceed. He further claims there had been an understanding that assets would be divided equally.

Moriox Kids travelled to Kyrgyzstan around activities linked to the sixth World Nomad Games. The Games officially ran from August 31 to September 6, 2026.

‘Leave the Moriox brand’

Kayitare said he had delayed taking the dispute to court because of the financial costs involved but was preparing to pursue the matter legally.

His main concern, he said, is the continued use of the word "Moriox”, which he argues originated with the media company he established before the children’s project.

"What I told them is that they can keep what they took, but they should leave the ‘Moriox’ brand that I built,” he said.

He added that he was willing to rebuild the children’s project from the beginning.

"I will start from scratch,” he said, insisting that the disagreement should ultimately be resolved around ownership of the brand.