Tanzania's President John Magufuli died, aged 61

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr. John Magufuli aged 61 has died in a Dar es Salaam hospital.

The country's Vice-President, Samia Hassan has announced to the nation Wednesday March 17 at 2300 hours through national television.

“We have lost our courageous leader, President John Magufuli, who has died from a heart illness." She announced adding that the nation shall mourn the leader for 14 days. 

She said that Magufuli had first been briefly admitted to the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute on March 6, but was subsequently discharged, Hassan said. But he was rushed to hospital again on March 14 after feeling unwell.

The Vice-President did not specify the nature of Magufuli’s underlying illness in her brief televised remarks, but said that he had suffered from chronic atrial fibrillation for more than a decade. 

Born on October 29, 1959, in the northwestern town of Chato, Magufuli worked as a teacher and industrial chemist before venturing into politics.

He won election to parliament in 1995 and held several cabinet posts before the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party chose him as its candidate to succeed President Jakaya Kikwete in 2015.

The announcement followed two weeks' intense speculations that Magufuli was critically ill with Covid-19 — reports that senior government officials had repeatedly denied.

The late Magufuli had not been seen in public since February 27 and the government officials hesitated to give the public information.

It was a Kenyan newspaper which first raised the alarm after reporting that an unnamed African leader was admitted to the private Nairobi Hospital.

The newspaper quoted exiled Tanzania opposition leader, Tundu Lissu who demanded government statement on the State of health of the President.

Magufuli won early praise for tackling corruption, reducing wasteful government spending and improving the lives of peasant farmers by waiving dozens of taxes. 

He also spearheaded the development of new transport links, power plants and more than 1,700 health centers, investments that helped Tanzania’s economy become one of the world’s top performers.

He also drove through controversial reforms aimed at ensuring the nation derived greater benefit from its natural resources, which put his administration on a collision course with foreign mining companies. 

In 2017, the authorities asked Barrick Gold Corp.’s local unit to pay a whopping $190 billion tax bill -- a dispute the company settled by paying $300 million and creating a mining joint venture with the state.

Magufuli became increasingly authoritarian as his first term progressed -- he centralized power in the presidency and unapologetically cracked down on dissent and media freedom. 

He secured a second five-year term in October when he garnered 84% of the vote, the widest victory margin of any presidential candidate in almost three decades of multiparty elections in Tanzania.

The opposition rejected the outcome as rigged and the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania said credible allegations of fraud and intimidation, as well as the ruling party’s overwhelming win, raised questions about the election’s fairness. 

Several opposition candidates were disqualified from standing and the government instituted internet and social media site shutdowns that hampered its opponents’ campaigns.

International consternation with Magufuli’s rule has focused on his unorthodox approach to tackling Covid-19. 

He insisted the country was free of the disease, discouraged the use of face masks and advised his people to pray and undergo steam therapy to safeguard their health. 

While most of the rest of the world clamored to access vaccines, his administration eschewed them and said it was working on developing alternative natural remedies.

Tanzania stopped publishing infection data in April 2020, making it impossible to determine the severity of the epidemic. 

The deluge of patients displaying coronavirus symptoms seeking treatment at public hospitals and daily funeral masses indicates Magufuli severely downplayed what was clearly a major public health crisis.

According to the Tanzania constitution, the Vice-President, Samia Hassan, shall take over the presidency until the end of the term in 2025. - Africa.