Tanzanian President John Magufuli (pictured) was last seen in public on February 27, 2021, when he inspected a project being undertaken by a Chinese company in the country. Known to be a critic of COVID-19 safety procedures and an inventor of ‘alternative forms’ of combating the spread of the virus, Magufuli has maintained normal social relations even in state functions.
He shook hands, maintained no social distance and at no point was he seen with face masks in public. But in his last event, something queer stood out-the Tanzanian head of state maintained social distance and avoided handshakes. Few weeks before that, Tanzania government officials had succumbed to the virus even as President Magufuli clung on to the hope that three-day long prayers and steam inhalation that he has prescribed was still the route to go in fighting the pandemic.
For instance, Zanzibar’s Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad, popularly known as Maalim Seif died at the age of 77 with the disease and Chief Secretary Amb. John Kijazi also succumbed. But he changed tune in his last public appearances. He advised his compatriots to observe the social distancing, wearing facemasks as they continue steam inhalation religiously. Up to now, the steam inhalation does not have a scientific backing to prove its efficacy against the novel coronavirus.
Growing concerns
President Magufuli, an outspoken political figure who has dominated the East African media has gone in silence. And no communication is forth-coming from Dodoma about his condition. On Monday, March 8, Kenyan media reported that Mr Magufuli had been flown to Kenya and admitted to a local Nairobi hospital to be treated with coronavirus-like symptoms. Magufuli’s main critic and Tanzanian opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, criticised the government for being mum about the president’s whereabouts saying that was a public concern.
“The President’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern. We’re informed when Kikwete had prostate surgery, (sic) we’re told when Mkapa went to hip replacement. We’re not kept in dark when Mwalimu fought leukemia. What’s it with Magufuli that we don’t deserve to know?” Mr. Lissu argued a day after Magufuli’s departure.
Lissu—a CHADEMA party opposition figure and contender in the 2020 presidential election— singled out Magufuli criticism. He alleged that the president misled the country into lowering the guard and following unproven methods to fight the bug, but when he gets infected, he is flown to other countries for treatment.
“It’s a sad comment on his steward[1]ship of our country that it’s come to this: that he himself had got 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 tweeted on his page on Wednesday.
Fight back
Mr Lissue received a backlash from a section of Magufuli’s cabinet that accused him of peddling rumours on the health status of the president In early 2020, Magufuli earlier ordered his health officials to conceal COVID-19 cases. He ordered for the reopening of schools, bars, churches and other social places as Tanzania embraced normalcy as early as mid-2020 when the rest of the world was in distress. His abrasive style of leadership would trigger diplomatic ties with neighbouring countries as he insisted on free access for his people into the neighbouring countries without COVID-19 testing. And, when Kenya stood firm, the whole thing led to the border closure between the two countries. On January 27, he launched another scathing attack on the Western countries over the vaccine which he said would only be used in Tanzania after thorough research and verification by the local medics. “Vaccines are not good. If they were, then the white man would have brought vaccines for HIV/AIDS,” he said, as quoted by Reuters.
“We Tanzanians haven’t locked ourselves in and we don’t expect to lock ourselves down. I don’t expect to announce any lockdown because our God is living and He will continue to protect Tanzanians.” The last time Tanzanian authorities gave a COVID-19 update was May 2020. By that time, the country had 509 cases, 21 deaths and a total of 183 recoveries. But after that, the state flexed its muscles on media houses and gagged the public from discussing the matter even as international press and World Health Organization (WHO) raised red flags of virus spread that had been kept under the wraps.