Tanzanian President John Magufuli is admitted at a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, where he is battling an unknown illness, a Kenyan media has reported.

The media reports indicate that President Magufuli was flown to Nairobi on Monday for treatment though the details surrounding his condition remain scanty.

Tanzanian media has remained tight-lipped over the issue and not even a statement from the Dodoma administration has been forthcoming. Magufuli is reportedly missing from the public eye for close to three weeks without a communication on his whereabouts.

Kenya’s Daily Nation reported that Magufuli was last seen late last month when he made public address calling on Tanzanians to observe COVID-19 measures, contrary to his previous denial that the virus was prevalent in the country.

For a man who had embraced hand shake and disregarded face masks and social distancing, even before visitors of the state; the beginning of 2021 had signaled a change in the behaviour for Magufuli.

In his last public appearance, he could be seen maintaining distance though unmasked in the company of Chinese businessmen.

Other media sources have however reported that Mr Magufuli is in Dar-es-Salaam albeit battling COVID-like symptoms.  

Backlash

CHADEMA presidential candidate in the 2020 campaign Tundu Lissu has criticised the president for disregarding safety measures by World Health Organization only to run to Kenya for treatment when the worst beckons in his door.

Tundu tweeted: “It’s a sad comment on his stewardship of our country that it’s come to this: that he himself had get COVID-19 and be flown out to Kenya in order to prove that prayers, steam inhalations and other unproven herbal concoctions he’s championed are no protection against coronavirus!’’

Lissu lashed at the Tanzanian government for keeping quiet despite a glaring indication that President Magufuli was indeed ill. He said that it was the right of the Tanzanians to know the nature of illness their leader suffers from.

He stated: “The President’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern. We’re (sic) informed when Kikwete had prostate surgery. We’re told when Mkapa went for hip replacement. We’re not kept in the dark when Mwalimu fought leukemia. What’s it with Magufuli that we don’t deserve to know?’’

According to Tanzanian figures last updated in May 2020, the country has 509 cases, 21 deaths and 183 recoveries.

This number is suspected to be higher because President Magufuli ordered lowering of the guard against the spread of the disease.

He ordered for the reopening of churches, schools, markets and other social places as he criticized the efficacy of the testing kits. In one of his weirdest claims, Magufuli claimed that his ministry of health ran a COVID-19 test on a paw-paw fruit and a goat all of which returned positive results.

Change of tact

But come February 2021, things had changed and high profile deaths were being registered in the country. For instance, Zanzibar’s Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad, popularly known as Maalim Seif died died at the age of 77 with the disease and Chief Secretary Amb. John Kijazi also succumbed.

But Magufuli refused to bulge. He called on his compatriots to continue inhaling steam and praying for three days to ward off the spread of the disease.

He said, “Today for the Muslims who have already begun, tomorrow the Seventh Day Adventists who pray on Saturdays and on Sunday for Christians

“Let’s pray and fast for three days I am sure we will win. May I ask religious leaders just as you have been doing, keep insisting in prayers. We will win. We won last year we will win this year and years to come.”

In February, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that most Tanzanians crossing into the neighbouring countries were potential carriers of the disease; hence, failing to observe the safety measures was spoiling efforts by the nighbours.

“A number of Tanzanians travelling to neighbouring countries and beyond have tested positive for COVID-19. This underscores the need for Tanzania to take robust action both to safeguard their own people and protect populations in these countries and beyond,’’ he warned.