Tanzanian President John Magufuli (pictured) is dead. The country’s Vice President Samia Hassan Suluhu broke the news to the Tanzanians on Wednesday 17, when she announced 14 days of mourning.

“Dear Tanzanians, it is sad to announce that today 17 March 2021 around 6 p.m. we lost our brave leader, President John Magufuli who died from heart illness at Mzena hospital in Dar es Salaam where he was getting treatment,” she said  Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TB).

The Tanzanian constitution stipulates that a vice president assumes office for the remainder of the term in case a president dies. This means that Hassan Suluhu will serve the remainder of the last term after being elected alongside Magufuli in 2020 November.

She will be the first female president in East Africa should that happen.

Magufuli, nicknamed the bulldozer, was born in Chato, Tanzania, on October 29, 1959.

He has left behind a wife, Janet and a daughter Jessica and a son Joseph. Magufuli’s death comes just barely a week after eyebrows were raised over his absence since February 17 when he was last seen in public.

Reports emerged that the president was critically ill and had been flown to Nairobi for treatment and later on to India. His cabinet ministers denied the rumours saying he was in Dar-es-Salaam and in proper health.

The Tanzanian leader hit the spotlight as a sworn COVID-19 denier who advanced the narrative that the virus was an invention of the west to finish Africans. Even though he championed for the use of a traditional healing mechanism in steam inhalation; his narrative sunk deep in the hearts of his compatriots who shunned masks and social distancing.

But he would then rescind the decision to assume a tough stance after deaths of high profile leaders in his government. He then started encouraging Tanzanians to observe safety rules and continue inhaling the steam.