News — John Magufuli

John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was a politician who served as the fifth President of Tanzania from 2015 to 2021. Magufuli was born on October 29, 1959, in Chato, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), to John Joseph Magufuli and an unnamed mother. Growing up, Magufuli attended the Chato Primary School from 1967 to 1974. He also attended the Kateke Seminary School from 1975 to 1977, then relocated to Lake Secondary School in 1977, graduating in 1978. Magufuli graduated from Mkwawa High School in Iringa, Tanzania in 1981. After graduating, Magufuli enrolled in the Mkwawa College of Education where in 1985 he received a Diploma in Education Science, majoring in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Education. Magufuli also attended the University of Dar es Salaam where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree in 1988, a master’s degree there in 1994, and doctorate in chemistry in 2009.

Magufuli began his professional career as a teacher at The Sengerema Secondary School in Sengerema, Tanzania. He later quit his teaching job and became an industrial chemist at the Nyanza Cooperative Union Limited. While there he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1995, where he represented the Chato district. He was appointed Deputy Minister for Works during his first term as MP by President Benjamin Mkapa. Magufuli would become Minister for Works following the 2000 election.

On January 4, 2006, President Jakaya Mrisho Kilkwete moved Magufuli to Minister of Lands and Human Settlement. He also served as Minister of Livestock and Fisheries from 2008 to 2010 and Minister of Works from 2010 to 2015.

On July 12, 2015, Magufuli was nominated as CCM’S (Chama Cha Mapinduzi) Presidential candidate for the 2015 election. Magufuli won a majority vote in the final round of the primary against Asha-Rose Migiro and Amina Salum Ali. Magufuli then faced candidate Edward Lowassa in the Presidential election held on October 25, 2015. On October 29, 2015, Magufuli was declared the winner by the National Electoral Commission (NEC). His running mate, Samia Suluhu Hassan, was declared vice president. During his presidency, Magufuli took on many issues but he was most notable for his measures to curb unnecessary government spending including cutting unnecessary foreign travel by government officials. Magufuli also reduced his own presidential salary from $15,000 to $4,000 a month. Magufuli presidency was not without its controversies. These controversies included being accusing of having autocratic tendencies seen in restrictions on freedom of speech, restrictions on LGBT rights, and a crackdown on members of the political opposition. He was also known of promoting misinformation about COVID-19 over the pandemic in Tanzania.

Magufuli won reelection against Tundu Lissu in the 2020 Tanzanian general election. On March 17, 2021, Magufuli died at the Emilio Mzena Memorial Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at the age of 61. Magufuli’s cause of death was not known, but according to his vice president Suluhu, he suffered from a heart condition for many years. On March 20, 2021, Magufuli was laid-in-state at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Magufuli was at one time married to Janeth Magufuli. The couple had three children together.

Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has died at the age of 61, the country’s vice-president said. He died on Wednesday from heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Samia Suluhu Hassan disclosed this in a televised address to the nation late on Wednesday.

The BBC reported last Wednesday that Magufuli has not made a public appearance in some time, prompting Tanzanians to ask for the whereabouts of their president. The opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, said the president was on admission in a hospital due to COVID-19. This is yet to be confirmed. Lissu said that Magufuli was flown to Kenya last Monday but rather quietly. He added that Magufuli may have suffered a cardiac arrest in his illness.

Last year, the Covid-19 skeptic leader declared a “victory” of the pandemic over what he said were the prayers of Tanzanians. Magufuli’s administration had declared that the country was coronavirus-free. This came after the government insisted normal public life would have to go on in spite of the suspected increase in cases leading up to the end of last year. Schools remained open as did churches.

“The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Magufuli once stated in a speech, apparently because of prayers. The spiritual inclination was not a joke as the government warned the American Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam to stay out of Tanzania’s internal affairs after the American envoy issued a statement in May 2020 claiming that hospitals in the commercial capital were on the verge of collapse due to admitting coronavirus-infected patients.

Magufuli did not only allege foreign conspiracies to undermine his government but also moved to crush faith in Tanzania’s scientific research community. He once stated that “probably, the technicians are also bought to mislead” on infection and mortality rates in the country. 

The head of the national research unit in charge of understanding Tanzania’s case count and kinds of infection was sacked after his outfit was accused of finding coronavirus in goats and pawpaw.

The government then launched an investigation into “criminal possibility at the national laboratory”. While most African countries placed restrictions on public life, Tanzania did not. Apart from full churches and mosques, stadia were also loaded with soccer fans and continue to be.

President John Magufuli of Tanzania, who has made global news headlines for advocating lax measures in his country in spite of the pandemic, is reportedly in a hospital receiving treatment for a coronavirus infection.

The BBC reported on Wednesday that Magufuli has not made a public appearance in some time, prompting Tanzanians to ask for the whereabouts of their president. However, according to opposition leader Tundu Lissu, the president is on admission in a hospital due to COVID-19, per his (Lissu’s) sources.

Lissu explained that information available to him has it that Magufuli, 61, was flown to Kenya on Monday night but rather quietly. He also added that Magufuli may have suffered a cardiac arrest in his illness.

Nairobi Hospital which is said to be where the Tanzanian leader has been admitted refused to comment on the allegation, the BBC said.

The 53-year-old opposition leader also alleges that Philip Mpango, the Finance Minister who made a public appearance a few weeks ago but was captured on camera coughing unstoppably, has also been admitted at Nairobi Hospital.

Understandable cover of darkness

If Magufuli is truly in a hospital having been infected by the virus, it would be understandable that his treatment is under a cover of darkness. Last year, the ultraconservative leader declared a “victory” of the pandemic because of what he said were the prayers of Tanzanians.

Magufuli’s administration had declared that the country was coronavirus-free. This came after government insisted normal public life would have to go on in spite of suspected increase in cases leading up to the end of last year. Schools remained opened as did churches, the establishments Magufuli credited with the “success” of Tanzania’s fight.

“The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Magufuli once stated in a speech, apparently because of prayers. The spiritual inclination was not a joke as the government warned the American Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam to stay out of Tanzania’s internal affairs after the American envoy issued a statement in May 2020 claiming that hospitals in the commercial capital were on the verge of collapse due to admitting coronavirus-infected patients.

Magufuli did not only allege foreign conspiracies to undermine his government but also moved to crush faith in Tanzania’s scientific research community. He once stated that “probably, the technicians are also bought to mislead” on infection and mortality rates in the country. The head of the national research unit in charge of understanding Tanzania’s case count and kinds of infection was sacked after his outfit was accused of finding coronavirus in goats and pawpaw.

The government then launched an investigation into “criminal possibility at the national laboratory”. While most African countries placed restrictions on public life, Tanzania did not. Apart from full churches and mosques, stadia were also loaded with soccer fans and continue to be.

John Magufuli, Tanzania’s 61-year-old president, is very much a moralist. He will not apologize for grounding his politics in conservative Christian values and neither is anyone to expect that the former high school teacher would back down.

Magufuli espouses a simplified Aristotelian sense of justice, an equitable distribution to those deserving of good and bad. This notion of justice as fairness and as rightness was integral to his election to the presidency, initially in 2015. It also helped that he marketed himself as an upright Christian man who was very much aware of the biases of his eletorate.

Initially, the man inspired hope, taking his moral politics into rooting out an African problem of rot in the Tanzanian public service. He launched a war on corruption and was unforgiving to those who fed off the labor and mite put in by poor and ordinary Tanzanians. But there were also downsides to Magufuli’s religion-powered politics that saw him make life harder for the LGBTQ+ community in his country as well as propagate the belief that people who employ family planning and birth control are “lazy [people] afraid they will not be able to feed their children”.

Neither of the two unfortunate actions taken by Magufuli can be overlooked, however, treating a deadly pandemic as if is a fight of spirituality and determinedly ruling out scientific measures for saving lives is definitely the lowest point in the presidency of a man with a respectable doctorate in chemistry.

First of all, Magufuli’s administration had declared that the country was coronavirus-free. This came after government insisted normal public life would have to go on in spite of suspected increase in cases leading up to the end of last year. Schools remained opened as did churches, the establishments Magufuli credited with the “success” of Tanzania’s fight.

“The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Magufuli once stated in a speech, apparently because of the prayers of Tanzanians. The spiritual inclination was not a joke as the government warned the American Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam to stay out of Tanzania’s internal affairs after the American envoy issued a statement in May 2020 claiming that hospitals in the commercial capital were on the verge of collapse due to admitting coronavirus-infected patients.

The US Embassy alleged that coronavirus cases were seriously and intentionally underreported. All that while, Magufuli had been imploring his compatriots to pray and nothing more. Any pressure that came from elements outside Tanzania was deemed adversarial to his government.

Magufuli did not only allege foreign conspiracies to undermine his government but also moved to crush faith in Tanzania’s scientific research community. He once stated that “probably, the technicians are also bought to mislead” on infection and mortality rates in the country. The head of the national research unit in charge of understanding Tanzania’s case count and kinds of infection was sacked after his outfit was accused of finding coronavirus in goats and pawpaw.

The government then launched an investigation into “criminal possibility at the national laboratory”. While most African countries placed restrictions on public life, Tanzania did not. Apart from full churches and mosques, stadia were also loaded with soccer fans and continue to be.

Now, the government is no more sticking to its narrative that COVID-19 has been defeated through prayers. Rather, government authorities are belittling infection rates and advocating alternative remedies including “steam inhalation, and eating fruits and vegetables”, according to Suleiman Jafo, the country’s Minister of Local Governments.

Jafo’s advocacy has actually been sanctioned by Health Minister Dorothy Gwajim, a physician. Gwajim preaches at pressers and on media channels that a concoction involving ginger, lemon, onions and pepper would prevent coronavirus infections.

She maintains that her country has “its own procedure on how to receive any medicines and we do so after we have satisfied ourselves with the product”. For now, Tanzania is rejecting any and all vaccines approved for usage by either the World Health Organization (WHO) or developed countries.

Intriguingly, some government communications give away the impression that authorities are aware of a dire situation. For instance, Magufuli recently accused travelers to Tanzania of “importing a new weird corona”. But there is also a difficulty for a government pursuing propaganda while aiming to force public compliance with preventive measures.

An official of the Health Ministry publicly advised Tanzanians to wear face masks “not because of corona, like some people think, but it’s to prevent respiratory diseases”. The prevention of “respiratory diseases” is the message the Health Ministry is partially running with these days.

While other African countries are working assiduously to procure vaccines while strategically managing infections inland, Tanzania will undoubtedly be behind the curve when the world hopefully nears the light at the end of the tunnel. But obviously, it is within the capacity of a scientist-president to change the impending narrative.