World Health Organization (WHO) has called on Tanzania to intensify the fight against COVID-19 like neighbouring countries even though the country’s president John Magufuli would hear none of such calls.

As nations produced numbers and closed borders due to the virus in March 2020, President John Pombe Magufuli declared Tanzania disease-free.

He ordered churches and schools to be reopened and opened up the economy saying the country had nothing to fear. All these happened at the expense of neighbours like Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique that had ordered for a lockdown.

Close to one year down the line, the silent spread of the virus in the East African nation has blossomed into a serious crisis alerting the attention of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The WHO boss called on Tanzania to scale up the testing and observance of the protocols even as he lamented that the Dodoma-administration is yet to be consider initial appeals.  

Tedros said in a statement dated February 20: “I joined Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Director for the African Region, in urging Tanzania to scale public health measures against COVID-19 and to prepare for vaccination. I also encouraged the sharing of data in light of reports of COVID-19 cases among travellers.

Since then I have spoken with several authorities in Tanzania but WHO is yet to receive any information regarding what measures Tanzania is taking to respond to the pandemic.’’

He warned of alarming positivity rate in Tanzania that is currently jeopardising efforts to tame the virus in the neighbouring countries.

“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.

Status quo remains

It remains a ‘wait and see’ scenario on whether Magufuli will yield WHO pleas given his open resistance to making public the country’s coronavirus statistics.

For instance, the country has lately lost key political figures to the disease. Zanzibar’s Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad, popularly known as Maalim Seif died at the age of 77 after suffering from the disease.

The other was the state’s Chief Secretary Ambassador John Kijazi who succumbed to the disease in Dar es Salaam mid-February. None of these high profile deaths could dissuade President Magufuli to consider taking action. He chose to maintain the status quo.

Speaking at the requiem mass of the late Kijazi, Magufuli urged the churches and mosques to pray for three days saying God had not neglected Tanzanians. He ruled out taking any policy measures like imposing a lockdown.

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.”

No to vaccine

In January 2021, Magufuli turned down calls to have the country procure a COVID-19 vaccine saying the jab was not effective after all. At that time, he remained categorical that lockdown would never be on his list even though there are indications that the country could be headed for a crisis in silence.

“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.”

Tanzania has advocated for steam inhalation from a traditional herbal medicine that the president often sings its praises.

“We will also continue to take health precautions including the use of steam inhalation,” he said in January.

“You inhale while you pray to God, you pray while farming maize, potatoes, so that you can eat well and corona fails to enter your body. They will scare you a lot, my fellow Tanzanians, but you should stand firm.”