Dear Editor,
While Tim Davie’s resignation as BBC Director General over the Panorama scandal involving Donald Trump’s speech has attracted worldwide attention, I want to highlight a lesser-known story of the BBC during his tenure that might be just as significant, if not more so, than the Panorama incident. If this lesser-known story had attracted as much attention in 2020 as the Panorama scandal, I believe it would have prompted Tim Davie’s resignation long before last Sunday, November 9, 2025.
The Panorama incident was disclosed in a memo from a whistleblower, and President Trump’s threats of legal action against the BBC led to the resignation of Tim Davie. The untold story I am referring to emerged during a staff strike as a defence against interference with the BBC’s independenceand was supported by a petition signed by over 10,000 people.
My judgment isn’t made lightly; it derives from 29 years of experience working under various BBC director generals. I spent 29 years in two departments of the World Service, Swahili and Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, including 17 years as the editor of the Great Lakes service (Kinyarwanda/Kirundi). This service is one of London’s language departments operating in regions with oppressive regimes that suppress independent journalism.
In 2020, the BBC Dakar bureau staff, serving the French-speaking African audience, went on strike to protest the undermining of the BBC’s independence after one of their members, Jacques Matand Diyambi, was dismissed. Others in the bureau faced sanctions to appease the Rwandan regime, which has used genocide as a weapon to conceal the role of the ruling RPF soldiers in the 1994 massacre of Hutus.
The BBC management was not pleased with the interviewJacquei did with French author Charles Onana about his book, which detailed his investigation into the Rwandan genocide. The notice of dismissal stated that the BBC had received a ‘formal complaint’ from the Rwandan government.
However, the enquiries by the Association of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders found that the BBC had lied. A petition of the staff stated: “We are shocked to realise that the decision was motivated by an alleged complaint by the Rwandan authorities, several weeks after the interview was broadcast. The BBC Afrique Union contacted several Rwandan authorities to inquire about the complaint, but they denied that there was one.
“We would appreciate it if the alleged complaint or any related document that has led to Jacque’s dismissal and warnings of other colleagues could be made available to us.” The staff’s plea was ignored.
In fact, the staff were victims of covert instructions given to certain editors of African languages, forbidding them from speaking to some prominent critics of the Rwandan government on the issue of genocide.
The staff’s petition stated: “The unfair decision portrays BBC as an institution incapable of withstanding political pressure and, therefore, compromises its independence by sacrificing one of its journalists to please the Rwandan authorities.”
Reporters Without Borders took that issue to the Rwandan government. Olivier Nduhungirehe, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, told Reporters Without Borders that his government “never formally complained” and described the issue as “an internal problem within this British media group.”
Reporters Without Borders also contacted the BBC, which said it could not comment on personnel matters, emphasising that all journalists must “respect the broadcaster’s strict editorial standards.’
Over 10,000 people signed an online petition: https://www.change.org/p/bbc-appel-au-retour-du-journaliste-jacques-matand-%C3%A0-son-poste-%C3%A0-la-bbc-1942c1a3-3d78-456b-8f71-bbe902e44832. Still, the BBC was unmoved.
The dismissal claim of Jacque Matand was resolved in March 2022; the Senegalese Labour Court found that there was insufficient evidence to accuse Jacques Matand of professional misconduct. The court ordered the BBC to pay him 10 million CFA francs.
Under Tim Davie’s leadership, the BBC’s management appeared to have abandoned the principle that led the corporation to establish London-based language services targeting oppressive regimes.
Following that unofficial change of heart, Tim Davi’s management chose to move the Kinyarwanda/Kirundi service—the sole radio station historically committed to independent news and hosting critics and dissenters of the Rwandan regime—to Nairobi. This city, incidentally, has a history of incidents involving the assassinations and abductions of Rwandans.
I am aware of the BBC’s long-term strategy to relocate its language services from London, aiming to cut costs and, of course, benefit from improved political environments. Good examples are Ethiopia and Somalia.
Nevertheless, the decision to relocate the Kinyarwanda/Kirundi service to Nairobi shows how Tim Davie’s management has prioritised financial savings over staff safety, thereby compromising the BBC’s editorial independence.
If Tim Davie and his management team were wise students of history, they would not endanger the lives of their staff andcompromise editorial independence by ignoring the 2021 Human Rights Watch report, “Join Us or Die”: Rwanda’s Extraterritorial Repression. https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/10/10/join-us-or-die/rwandas-extraterritorial-repression
Also, if Tim Davies and his management were good students of history, they would not have made a decision that jeopardised the lives of staff by bringing them closer to theirpredator. The 2021 Reporters Without Borders reportidentified President Kagame as one of thirty-seven global ‘predators of press freedom: rsf.org/en/2021-world-press-freedom-index-journalism-vaccine-against-disinformation-blocked-more-130-countri
The fact that no one in London accepted the transfer offer to Nairobi may have led Tim Davie and his management to reconsider their decision. However, it never materialised.
One of the primary tasks for the incoming Director General of the BBC will be to rebuild trust with the Kinyarwanda/Kirundi audience, as well as with the staff who diligently serve them.
Regards
Ally Yusufu Mugenzi, former editor of the Great Lakes Service
Therwandan
